


The Wedding

by redbirdy32



Series: A Gabriel Reyes/Reader Series [5]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Analingus, Car Sex, Cunnilingus, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Established Relationship, F/M, Fist Fights, Manipulation, Minor Violence, Smut, Vaginal Sex, guests at a wedding - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:40:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24784786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redbirdy32/pseuds/redbirdy32
Summary: Years before you met Gabriel you almost got married. Fast forward to the present and your ex calls you out of the blue to invite you to his wedding. At first you aren't sure about going, but Gabriel is curious about the man you almost said "I do" to. You were expecting to go and enjoy the wedding festivities. What you weren't expecting was for all hell to break loose, with you in the middle of it.
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Reader
Series: A Gabriel Reyes/Reader Series [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1740118
Comments: 47
Kudos: 146





	1. The Phone Call

**Author's Note:**

> Back with something a little more lighthearted after all that dark and heavy stuff in Charity. As always, I recommend reading the other stories in the series for context - for this one I especially recommend Caretaker as it gives history about reader's prior engagement.
> 
> Tags will be updated as I go.
> 
> Updates will be a little slower than my last stories but I appreciate ya'll hanging in with me. 
> 
> ***Disclaimer: This work was written for entertainment purposes only and is not meant to endorse, represent, advocate for, or educate on any of the topics it touches on. Certain topics may be portrayed inaccurately in part or in whole. While all efforts are made to research certain subjects to portray them accurately, the research may be cursory, at best and may effect the real-world accuracy of the portrayal of certain topics. ***

The day had gone like any other day. You went into Overwatch, taught your classes, had some lunch, taught some more classes, and came home. You weren’t in the mood to cook that evening so you texted Jack and Gabriel to let them know they had to fend for themselves. You popped some leftovers into the microwave and turned on the electric kettle to heat up some water to brew a cup of tea. Then you took five minutes to find the pieces to your special tea mug. The mug consisted of the mug itself, a strainer, and a lid. You usually stored all the pieces together but whenever Gabriel or Jack did the dishes they’d end up scattered around the kitchen.

With your meal sufficiently heated and your loose-leaf tea brewed, you sat at the island to relax and enjoy, or at least that was your plan. As soon as you brought your first forkful to your mouth your phone rang. It was sitting next to you on the island and you picked it up. It was a number you didn’t recognize but the area code said it was a Montreal number. Out of curiosity, you answered.

“Hello?”

“Uh..uh..hello? Y/N?” 

The voice sounded oddly familiar.

“This is her. Who is this?”

“Uh..this is Eddie.”

“Eddie? Um...Hi. How are you?”

“I’m good, how are you?”

“I’m good.”

There was a momentary silence.

“I know it’s weird, me reaching out to you after all these years and after everything that went down but, I wanted to call you to let you know I'm getting married.”

“Oh...wow, congratulations.”

“Thanks. So yeah, we sent you an invitation. I just thought I should talk to you before it arrived so you weren’t wondering why it was showing up out of the blue. We….I would really like it if you could come.”

“Um...I’ll let you know...Can I ask you, how did you find me?”

“Oh, through one of your dance friends. She knows a girl who worked with you when you were working with Craig Michaels a little while ago.”

“Oh.”

“You're still dancing I see.”

“I am, although, I’m not traveling as much.”

“I heard. You’re with Overwatch now right?” 

“Yeah.”

“That’s pretty cool Y/N….Well I don’t want to take up too much of your time. I just wanted to let you know the news and to tell you to keep a lookout for that invite.”

“I will.”

“Hope to see you there.”

“We’ll see.”

“Take care Y/N.”

“Take care.” 

You both hung up. You sat there blinking still shocked by the call.

Later that night you and Gabriel lay in bed together on your sides facing each other, heads propped on your hands as you kissed and caressed each other's faces while you talked.

“So, I got a strange call today.” He put his hand on your cheek and stroked it with his thumb. “But not strange because of what was discussed. It was strange because of who called.”

He grabbed your chin and pecked your lips twice.

“Who called?” he asked. 

You put your hand on his waist and slowly ran it up his bare stomach, his muscles jumping under your hand, to his chest, then up to his neck and back down.

“My ex.”

He grabbed your hand from his chest bringing it to his mouth to kiss your knuckles.

“Which ex?”

“The ex I was gonna marry.” 

He looked at you and raised his eyebrow.

“What did he want?”

“Apparently he’s getting married and he wants me to come to the wedding.”

“Are you gonna go?”

“I don’t know.” 

“Hmm.” 

He pulled you close and rolled you both onto your back. You smiled at him, putting your hands on either side of his face as you kissed him then pulled back. You began to stroke his hair back with both hands as he rested his chin on your chest, his hands holding your sides. 

“Any reason why you wouldn’t want to go?” he asked.

“Not really. I’m not hung up on him or anything, it’s just weird. I haven’t talked to him in years. I’m surprised he’d want me to come to something so special in his life.”

“I think we should go.” 

You looked at him, surprised.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’ve always been curious about the man you almost married. This would satisfy my curiosity.” 

“What do you want to know about him?”

“I just want to know what he’s like.” You sighed, stilling your hands.

“I mean….I guess we can go if you want.” 

“I do.” 

“Ok then.” 

“Now come here and let me squeeze you.” he said, rolling off you and swiftly pulling you to him making you giggle. He reached behind himself and turned off the light then put his hand on your head pushing your face into his chest, smushing you against him “Get some sleep.”

You tried to pull back but he locked his grip holding you to him. You slapped his chest.

“Stoooooop” you whined. He chuckled.

“I’m just holding you Y/N. I thought you wanted to cuddle.” You pushed against him, his hand still not budging from your head. 

“I’m gonna bite you."

"Bite me baby, you know I like it rough."

"Gabriel!" 

"What!" he mimicked your tone. 

You were struggling against him, pushing on him, trying to get out of his grasp. 

"I'm gonna scream."

"You think I care? Hell, I'll scream with you."

You went still, then took a deep breath and let out a loud high pitch scream. Gabriel yelled along with you in his deep voice, just as loud, and your scream instantly devolved into laughter as he finally let you go. 

"You are so stupid," you laughed. 

"You love it though." he said, laughter in his voice. 

Suddenly there were three loud pounds on the wall from Jack's room.

"Sorry Jack," you both called in unison. 

"See? You got us in trouble," you said. 

"That was you Y/N."

"No, it was you."

"Wanna bet?" 

He started tickling your sides and you shrieked with laughter. Gabriel stopped and put his hand over your mouth. 

"He's gonna come in here and cuss us out." You pulled his hand from your mouth. 

"Then stop playing so much." 

"Can't, this is the only fun I get to have today."

“We need to get you some hobbies then.” you replied.

He leaned down and kissed your cheek then laid his head on your chest, grabbing your hand and intertwining your fingers.

“For real this time. Let's go to sleep.” he said.

“Good night” 

“Good night.”


	2. Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> smut at the end because why not. Its also integral to the story so there's that too.

About a month later you and Gabriel made the flight to Montreal for the wedding. You got there a few days early so you could partake in the pre-wedding festivities, but first things first, Eddie and his fiancé, Lily wanted to have dinner with you and Gabriel one-on-one. You got the feeling that this was something Lily was eager to do more so than Eddie.

The restaurant they picked was a little more upscale than you and Gabriel were used to and had a dress code. It was your understanding that Lily came from money, which made sense because Eddie would never have picked a place like that. You dressed in a fitted, blush, long sleeve, off the shoulder dress that hit at your calf and strappy heels. Gabriel was handsome as always in a dark grey suit and black tie.

When you got to the restaurant Gabriel pulled up and let you get out first while he parked the car. As soon as you got out you saw Eddie walking up with his fiance. Eddie was slightly shorter than Gabriel and had dark hair and features. He wore square black rim glasses which complemented the shape of his face. He was cute, that’s how you always thought of him. Not handsome or dashing, just cute. He wasn’t a muscular man but he wasn’t super lean either, just average and he looked very tidy and put together in his black suit.

His fiance was a very pretty, small, petite woman with elf-like features and a pale complexion. She had dark hair which was in a short pixie cut that suited her perfectly. She had on a loose fitting, lacy, long sleeved, light green, dress that had applique dragonflies all over it. She looked almost ethereal as she walked up with Eddie, arm wrapped around his.

“Hey Eddie,” you called as they walked up to you and came to a stop.

“Hey Y/N, you look great,” he said with a grin, looking you up and down, taking you in, and by the look on his face, enjoying what he was seeing.

“So do you.” you said ignoring his blatant ogling.

There was a pause as you all stood there. He continued to grin, eyes fixated on you as you looked back at him, your eyes darting to his fiance and back as you waited for him to introduce her. She looked at him, a little miffed, eyes insistent. She was clearly waiting for the same thing.

“Ah...and I’m assuming this is…?” you said, trying to move the conversation along,

“Oh!" he exclaimed like he suddenly remembered he had a fiance. "This is Lily.” he said, gesturing to his fiance.

She immediately let go of Eddie to embrace you in a hug which caught you a little off guard, but you returned it.

“It's so nice to finally meet you. I feel like I already know you. Ed never stops talking about you.”

You were a little taken aback by that. He never came up between you and Gabriel. What could he possibly have to say about you that you came up, apparently continuously, with his fiance?

“All good things I hope,” you said with a smile.

“For the most part,” she said. _What the hell did that mean?_

“I thought you were here with someone Y/N?” asked Eddie.

“I am, he’s parking the...oh there he is.” you said looking in Gabriel’s direction as he came up the walk.

Eddie and Lily turned in the direction you were looking. As they took Gabriel in, hunk that he was, their mouths dropped open.

“He’s hot Y/N,” said Lily, gaze still on him. Eddie snapped his gaze to her, glaring daggers.

Gabriel came up to you and you took his hand as Eddie and Lily turned to face you both. Eddie glared at Gabriel.

“Gabe, this is Eddie and his fiance Lily...This is Gabriel.”

“Nice to meet you,” Gabriel said, extending his hand. Lily shook it first. Eddie hesitated, as if he needed time for his soul to re-enter his body. You could tell he wasn't expecting you to show up with someone like Gabriel on your arm. But what surprised you was the undercurrent of upset he seemed to have about it.

“Ah...uh..should we all go in?” asked Eddie.

You all nodded. Eddie took the lead with Lily following behind him, and you and Gabriel behind her. Eddie opened the door to the restaurant and went inside, not bothering to hold it for his fiance or for you and Gabriel. Gabriel quickly stepped forward grabbing the door holding it for you and Lily before coming inside himself.

“Thank You,” you and Lily said in unison.

Eddie was standing at the hostess stand when you got inside and a waitress came up with menus to escort you all to your table. You and Gabriel held hands as you walked behind Eddie and Lily. He leaned over to you.

“You look beautiful tonight,” he whispered in your ear. You smiled, turning to look at him. He smiled back.

When you got to the white linen clothed table, Eddie started pulling a chair out. Lily went to stand closer to him. She started to sit, assuming he had pulled the chair out for her, but he swiftly sat down as if he was unaware of her presence. You looked at him, slight shock in your expression. The embarrassment was obvious on Lily’s face as she glared at him. You and Gabriel made eye contact and he raised his eyebrows in disbelief at what he had just witnessed. Eddie picked up his menu and started looking at it, oblivious to how uncomfortable everyone now was. Gabriel pulled out a chair.

“Lily,” he said softly, getting her attention then gestured for her to have a seat. She looked at him and gave a small smile, humiliation still in her features.

“Thank you,” she said as she sat down.

“No problem,” he said.

He walked around the table to pull out your chair and you sat, then he took his own seat next to you. You all picked up your menus to figure out what you wanted to drink and your drink orders were taken shortly after. As you all continued to look at your menus for your meal, Lily looked up at you and Gabriel.

“You two make a cute couple, how’d you meet?” she asked. You looked up at her.

“We met at Overwatch when I came to work there,” you answered. Eddie looked at Gabriel incredulously.

“What are you? Some kind of lower-level agent or something?” he smirked.

“Commander would be the accurate rank.” said Gabriel, not looking up from his menu.

“He’s one of the leaders,” you said.

“Of the little base you're stationed at?” Eddie asked smugly.

“Of Overwatch in its entirety,” answered Gabriel, still looking at his menu. Eddie’s eyes went wide.

“That’s impressive,” said Lily. “So what do you do there Y/N? Are you an agent?” You laughed a little.

“No, I teach body conditioning classes and a couple dance classes for fun.”

Eddie looked at you.

“You always were good at all that fitness stuff, which is why I always found it odd you weren’t thinner then you are.”

You looked at him, slight insult on your face. At the same time, Gabriel looked up at him from his menu. Lily laughed uncomfortably.

“Wha..What are you talking about honey? Y/N looks great.”

“Well, yeah she looks great, I just always thought she could be smaller, more petite, like you Lily.” He looked at her fondly thinking he was paying her a compliment, but the sentiment didn’t reach anyone at the table.

“Well I think we both just strive to be whatever healthy looks like on us individually, that’s what really counts,” you said annoyance in your voice.

Lily nodded in agreement.

“Sure,” he said nonchalantly, looking back at his menu. 

You looked at Gabriel who met your gaze and started shaking his head as he looked back at his menu. You looked around hoping to spot the waitress.

 _Where the fuck are the drinks?_ , you thought.

You changed the subject.

“So how did you two meet?” you asked. Lily smiled.

“We met in the park. I was working on a piece and I was backing up to get a better view of the scenery." Eddie looked up.

"She tripped and I caught her. Right place right time I guess," said Eddie a bit self-congratulatorily, smiling at Lily.

"We've been inseparable ever since." she said looking back at him fondly.

"And she's just as clumsy now as she was then." She giggled.

"That's sweet," you said. "Lily, you said you were working on a piece?"

"Yeah. I used to go to the park to paint.”

“Used to?”

“Well Ed said it was silly to waste so much time and money on a hobby and I realized he was right, so I gave it up.”

You side eyed him. He took in your expression.

"She won't really have time for it anyways after we get married. She'll be too busy being my little housewife."

You raised your eyebrow. He continued trying to plead his case.

"You get where I'm coming from, right Gabriel?" Gabriel looked up, surprised he was being brought into the conversation. "I'm sure you wouldn't let Y/N do anything that gets in the way of her time with you."

"Sorry, no, I can't relate. I learned early on that no one _lets_ Y/N do anything. She does what makes her happy and I just stand back and support her. That's pretty much my only option." Eddie looked at you.

"Still stubborn and uncompromising, I see," he said disapprovingly.

"Those are the things I love about her," Gabriel said, turning your face to him by your chin, planting a kiss on your lips, making you smile.

Eddie rolled his eyes. Lily smiled.

“So how long had you been painting, Lily?” you asked.

“Oh, since I was a kid. I used to win ribbons in art shows in school.”

“Hmm, well I’d love to see some of your work.” Her face lit up.

“Sure, I keep my paintings at my studio at my parents house. We can go take a look at the welcome party tomorrow night.”

“Looking forward to it,” you said. Eddie touched Lily’s hand.

“Honey, will you have time for that? We’ll both be busy entertaining our guests.” 

Lily’s happy expression dropped a bit.

“I’m sure we can find a moment to sneak away for a little while,” you said and she smiled at you.

Finally, the drinks showed up and your food order was taken. 

You and Lily continued to talk through the meal, Gabriel jumping in periodically, and as you all talked you and Gabriel found you really liked Lily. She was nice and funny and she had interesting stories to tell. 

When the waitress came to remove your dinner plates at the end of your meal you started considering dessert.

“Excuse me? Can I get a dessert menu?” she nodded at you.

“I can’t eat another bite,” laughed Lily.

“Y/N has always been a big eater,” said Eddie. You nodded with a smile.

“I haven’t met a carb I didn’t like.” She smiled.

“Here you go ma’am.” The waitress brought you a dessert card.

“Thank you.”

You sat back in your chair looking at the card. Gabriel scooted over toward you putting his arm on the back of your chair as he leaned in close to read the card with you. You turned your head and pecked his mouth.

“You wanna share a dessert with me?” you said low.

“I think I might get one of my own.” You leaned your head against his.

“What are you thinking about?” you asked.

“I think that key lime pie is calling my name.” You smiled.

“Really? I was thinking chocolate mousse cake.”

“I’ll give you a bite, if you give me a bite.” You turned to him and kissed him again.

“Deal.”

“Mmm mmm,” Eddie cleared his throat and you both looked up and realized you had an audience. Eddie looked irritated but Lily was amused.

“You two are so cute together. If anyone else were observing they’d think you guys were the one’s about to get married.”

You smiled.

“Ed doesn’t like PDA.” You looked at him confused.

“Since when?”

He looked at you, feeling caught.

“Uh...uh…I’m...just...not in the mood right now. We do PDA all the time, right Lily?”

“Not really.”

“Don’t be silly baby,” he said quickly leaning over to peck her lips, but she wasn’t expecting it so when his lips touched they were off center, more on her chin than anything else, and she jumped a little and blinked like she was stunned.

"I...I'm gonna head to the ladies room," said Lily as she stood.

"I'm coming with you," you said as you stood.

You walked around the table to Lily. Gabriel watched Eddie as his eyes followed you. You both walked to the restrooms together leaving the men alone, Eddie staring at your back as you walked away.

He finally looked away and realized Gabriel had been watching him.

"Y/N's great isn't she?" asked Gabriel

"She is,” agreed Eddie.

“Your fiance seems like a really sweet girl too."

"I guess...sure. So how long have you and Y/N been together?"

"Couple months shy of two years."

"Hmm, thinking about marriage?" asked Eddie

"Thinking about it."

"Well, I know how Y/N can be. I can see why you're probably on the fence."

Gabriel scrunched his face confounded by his response.

"It's not her. It's my own hang ups that are holding me back." Eddie nodded. "I get the feeling you have some lingering issue with her. Want to get it off your chest?" asked Gabriel.

"Oh, no, there's no issue. It's been years since we ended things. That's all water under the bridge now."

"You sure? Cause some of the things you've said tonight make me think-"

"Dude, I'm sure. I mean, would I be marrying Lily if I was still hung up on Y/N?"

"I don't know, would you?"

Eddie got an irritated look on his face.

"Look, it's all good. You've sufficiently marked your territory. Nobody wants your girl. It's fine. You can stop with all the macho posturing."

"What?"

Gabriel was genuinely confused. The waitress came to the table.

"Do we know what we want for dessert?" Gabriel gave her your orders.

Meanwhile in the bathroom, you and Lily were at the sink washing and drying your hands as you talked.

“Y/N, I want to apologize for how weird Ed is being tonight. He’s not acting like himself.”

“You don’t have to apologize and certainly not for him.”

“I just feel bad. He’s making things awkward,” she sighed, “Or maybe I’m just being too sensitive. Ed says I have a tendency to do that.”

“Eddie sure has a lot to say, doesn’t he?” Lily chuckled a bit. “Look, you're not being overly sensitive. Eddie has been sort of an ass tonight but please don’t feel the need to apologize on his behalf. You didn’t do anything wrong. If anything, you’ve made the weird atmosphere he’s created bearable.”

“You know, after listening to Ed practically gush over you, it made me really want to meet you so I could form my own opinion and to be honest, I was kind of hoping you were a bitch.” You laughed. “But you're actually really nice."

You smiled.

“So are you Lily.” She smiled then sighed.

"Do we have to go back out there?"

You giggled.

"If we don't, Gabriel will send a search party, trust me."

She huffed a breath.

"Ok. Lets go."

You and Lily made your way back to the table, where your dessert was waiting for you. There was a slight tenseness that you noticed when you sat down. Gabriel had already started eating his pie.

“Good?” you asked.

“See for yourself.”

He took a forkful and brought it to your mouth.

“Mmmm,” you hummed nodding your head. “That's amazing.” He used his thumb to wipe whipped cream off your upper lip.

“My messy girl.” he said low, making you smile.

Eddie and Lily watched the both of you, kind of in your own little world, as you fed each other your respective desserts. Where Lily thought the display was sweet, anyone looking could tell Eddie wasn't too happy to see you be so openly affectionate with Gabriel.

When your desserts were finished the checks came. Gabriel took out his card to pay for his and your meal. Eddie however looked at the check, closed the book, and slid it over to Lily.

“You’ve got this, right babe?”

“Uh-”

“I’m gonna head to the restroom.” Eddie stood up and left.

“Wait! My purse is in the car!” Lily called after Eddie. She sighed, her disappointment visible. Gabriel waved his hand forward, gesturing that she should give the check to him.

“I’ll take care of it.” he said

“Are you sure? I feel bad, I mean, I can just run to the car and get my bag.”

“It’s no problem. Consider it an early wedding present.”

“Wow. Thanks.” she said, handing him the check.

When the meal was paid for and Eddie came back from the restroom, you all got up and went outside to say your goodbyes. Gabriel snaked his arm behind your back and grabbed your waist, holding you close to him and that's how you both walked to the car.

“Well, those two are gonna have sex tonight,” Lily said as she and Eddie watched you and Gabriel walk away. He looked at her.

“What? How the hell do you know that?”

“Look at how he’s holding her. He’s been itching to get under her dress all night, you could see it in his eyes. Weren’t you paying attention?”

“To his boner eyes? No, Lily, obviously I wasn’t”

They started walking to their car.

“At least somebody is getting some. You haven’t touched me since you called Y/N about the wedding invitation.”

“Just haven’t been in the mood.”

“Wedding jitters?” she asked.

“Sure, let's call it that.”

You and Gabriel were initially quiet on the car ride to the hotel.

“So, that was…..” you started.

“Interesting.” he said.

“Interesting,” you said in agreement.

You both went silent again for the rest of the ride.

When you and Gabriel got back to the hotel room, you bent down to unzip your heels so you could take them off, but Gabriel stopped you.

“Wait. Don’t take anything off,” he said as he removed his suit jacket. You stood up straight.

“What?”

“I need you to stay just like that.”

“Ok?”

“Go sit at the foot of the bed.”

You obeyed and walked to the bed and sat down. Gabriel followed behind you loosening his tie and pulling it over his head. He set the tie and jacket down on the bed next to you and undid the top buttons of his dress shirt then got down on his knees in front of you and pulled your legs apart as far as your dress would allow them to go. You smiled.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t know what it is about what you have on, but fuck Y/N.”

He reached up the bottom of your dress, hands slowly gliding along the sides of your thighs as he looked at you, your dress riding up as his hands moved further up your leg. He then hooked his fingers into the side of your panties and swiftly yanked them down and over your heels, then flung them across the room. He grabbed your knees, parting your legs further, then sunk his head between them and began to slowly lap at your exposed center.

“Oh fuck Gabriel,” you breathed as you began to card you fingers through his hair.

His tongue slowly worked between your folds, dipping into your entrance, before going back to work between your lower lips, making contact with everything but your clit. Gabriel wanted to drive you crazy first. You looked down at him panting and moaning softly, anticipating when he was going to touch that sweet spot, but he never did, and it was starting to drive you mad. You repositioned your legs so they were over his shoulders then began to rock your hips hoping that eventually he’d make contact with the place you were aching for his tongue to touch, but he still avoided it.

“Please Gabe,” you moaned.

He smiled. He was waiting for those magic words. He slid his hand up your thigh to your stomach and gently pressed on it, signaling for you to lie back on the bed. You did, fingers still in his hair. Suddenly Gabriel’s warm mouth enveloped your clit and he began to suck. You closed your fingers in his hair and arched up off the bed.

“Yes, baby!” you moaned loudly, slightly digging the point of your heels into his back as your thighs closed around his head. He placed his hands on the back of your thighs, pushing them toward you, opening you up wider as he began to suck, lick, and slurp wildly at your pussy, sucking your lips into his mouth before moving back to your clit, flicking his tongue at it rapidly inside his mouth before releasing it to lap and suck at your inner folds noisily as you moaned and arched and panted, rocking your hips slightly, unable to keep pace with Gabriel’s schizophrenic rhythm. His mouth focused attention on a different part of your pussy until every part sung in harmony, your core tingling, on the cusp of release, when suddenly he stopped.

“No, baby don’t stop, I'm right there,” you breathed as your lower half writhed up and down on the bed.

Gabriel stood with a smirk on his face, wiping his mouth and chin, his pants already undone, his member already out and standing at attention. He reached forward and grabbed your hand, pulling you up off the bed to stand in front of him. He then turned you around and pressed himself to you as his hands began to roam your body over your dress. He kissed and licked at your neck as he slid his hands up over your stomach to your breast, kneading and squeezing them over your strapless bra as you leaned against him, placing your hands on his thighs, softly moaning. One of his hands left your breast and slid to your neck and chin, grabbing your face and turning it as he leaned over and pressed his lips to yours in a heated kiss, his other hand still squeezing your breast tight.

He pulled back some and licked your lips before he reached for the hem of your dress and pulled it over your head, tossing it to the floor. Then he kissed along your shoulder as he undid your bra and it fell to join the dress on the floor. He turned you around and took your face in both hands, kissing you deeply, dipping his tongue into your mouth before pulling back and looking at you.

“I’m gonna make you cum over and over again...ready?”

You nodded slowly. He smiled and took your hand leading you to the large floor to ceiling window, pulling back the curtains with his other hand so you looked down on the night view of the city. He let go of your hand and looked at you and you turned so your front was pressed against the glass. Your heels already had you on your toes, so all you had to do was arch your back, making your entrance accessible to him and he wasted no time coming up behind you, length in hand, pressing into your warmth, drawing a low moan from you.

Gabriel grabbed your thigh and lifted your leg from the ground pulling it back, holding it by your shin and then your ankle as he began to thrust. His pace was slow at first, his other hand on your hip pulling you back some as you pressed your face and breast against the window, releasing soft pants, which turned into loud moans as he increased his pace using your leg and his grip on your hip to yank you to him rapidly as he impaled you over and over again. He dropped your leg and pulled you back to him, arms wrapped around you, touching, and gripping you as he continued to slam his hips into you and nip and kiss at your neck, scraping his teeth against your skin, sending jolts of sensation to your core.

He turned your head, his hand engulfing your neck as he licked into your open mouth.

“Suck my tongue baby,” he breathed. You reached back grabbing his hair and began to suck on his tongue as he held it out for you. All the while, he was still pounding into you, still wrenching whimpers and moans from you, still giving you such intense pleasure that you wanted to cry. He moved his hand between your legs and began to rapidly rub at your clit.

“Fuck Gabriel...Gabriel...baby...Gabriel”

“Say my name Y/N, cum for me and say my name.”

Soon you were trembling against him, screaming his name at the top of your lungs as your orgasm consumed you. He hummed as your insides pulsed and gripped his length but he held out, not ready to cum yet.

Your legs gave out and Gabriel held you as he lowered you both to your knees on the floor. He had stopped his thrusting but he was still rubbing at your clit, trying to coax another orgasm out of you as you clawed at his hand trying to pull it away.

“Give me one more baby.”

You leaned forward onto your hands, his arm wrapped around your thigh arm pumping rapidly as he worked you, you lowered your head to the ground backside still in the air, Gabriel rubbing and gripping your ass with his other hand as he continued to quickly work your over-sensitive nub.

You were gasping, feeling like you couldn't breathe. Then suddenly, Gabriel licked at your pucker and your whole body tensed tightly as another orgasm tore through you. This time you were silent as you clamped your eyes shut and clawed at the carpet, body shaking, legs trembling, Gabriel’s hand rubbing and caressing your back through your orgasm as the other slowed its relentless pace between your legs.

“There it is, baby. There you go mi amor. You like cumming for daddy?” you slowly nodded your head.

Soon, your body started to relax, your breathing becoming deep and slow, your eyes still closed. Gabriel pressed kisses to your asscheeks and the back of your thighs as he unzipped your heels and pulled them off your feet. You straightened your legs and laid flat on the carpet.

Gabriel leaned over you and kissed a trail up your spine making you smile and hum.

“I'm not done yet, but I’m gonna let you rest for right now. You wanna get in the bed?” You nodded. Your eyes were still closed. “Turn over.”

You slowly rolled onto your back and Gabriel stood and lifted you from the ground taking you to the bed, pulling back the covers and laying you down. He remained standing removing the rest of his suit and his boxers before he got under the covers with you.

True to his word, he made you cum over and over again that night and you moaned and screamed his name through all of it until you both fell asleep exhausted, limbs tangled, bed sheets in disarray. Your last thought before exhaustion overcame you was to remember to add the dress you had worn that night to your regular rotation when you got back home.


	3. Welcome Party

You and Gabriel slept the morning away since you had no obligations until later in the evening. You both woke in the early afternoon, showered, and got dressed. You took Gabriel to a little restaurant you and Jack used to frequent when you lived in Montreal and he would come to visit. You had both agreed they had the best poutine and you were determined not to let Gabriel leave Montreal without having a proper poutine experience.

The poutine was set down in the middle of the table and Gabriel stared at it.

“So what’s on this again?” he asked.

“It’s french fries, cheese curds, and gravy. Jack and I used to eat this for pretty much every meal when he came to stay with me. We used to be regulars here.”

Gabriel grabbed his fork and stabbed at a fry and a cheese curd and brought it to his mouth. He started nodding approvingly as he chewed.

“Ok...that's…that’s actually really good.”

“See?”

You smiled as he started digging in with gusto, then picked up your fork to start eating as well. He smacked your hand.

“Ow!” you exclaimed snatching your hand back quickly.

“Get your own.” he said.

You looked at him, annoyed.

“Five seconds ago you weren’t even sure if you were gonna eat the poutine.”

“Well now I’ve had it, and this is mine.”

He wrapped his hand around the dish pulling it to himself, his forearm wrapped around it protectively as he continued to eat. You glared at him for a second then caught the attention of a waitress to put in another order.

When your poutine arrived, Gabriel was almost finished with his. He used his last fry to sop up the last bit of gravy out of the bowl before bringing it to his mouth. Then he stood from his chair and went to sit down next to you in the booth seat you were in, sticking his fork into your dish and bringing it to his mouth.

“Hey!” you shouted, looking at him as he chewed.

“I could eat five of these Y/N.”

“Well order them. This is mine.”

He went to go back in for more but you blocked him.

“Fine,” he set his fork on the table.

You stuck yours in the poutine, skewering gravy-soaked fries and cheese curds. You were bringing it to your mouth when he grabbed your wrist, pulling it and your fork to himself.

“Noooo,” you whined, struggling to pull your arm away. He got your fork close enough to his face to get his mouth around it and devour everything on it.

“Thank you baby,” he said as he chewed.

You hit his arm as he chuckled.

You ate your poutine letting Gabriel get a forkful every now and then until it was gone. 

After you ate, you wandered around Montreal for a while showing Gabriel some of the places you and Jack used to hang out, then went back to the hotel to get ready for the Welcome Party.

The Welcome Party was held at Lily’s parents mansion just outside of Montreal. Gabriel pulled into the circular stone driveway where valets were taking keys to park cars as guests made their way inside.

You and Gabriel were once again dressed up for the occasion, Gabriel in a black suit sans tie and you in a body hugging, knee-length, black, high neck halter dress that had a large bow on the side of the neck, perfect for hiding the hickies Gabriel had left there from the night before. Gabriel escorted you into the mansion on his arm and you were greeted with the obvious opulence and luxury that comes with living in a mansion. Marble tile floors that shined, a double curved staircase with ornate wrought iron railings, a large gold and crystal chandelier that hung in the foyer. As you followed the rest of the guests through the house you noticed the paintings on the walls and the vases and busts in strategically placed niches in the walls. Stuff that looked like it belonged in a museum.

You entered a large living room that spanned the length of the mansion. Facing you was a wall of long floor to ceiling windows that opened up to a terrace. On the wall to your left was a large fireplace that wasn’t on at the moment, but there was a grand piano in front of it where a man played surrounded by people playing other instruments providing classical music for the event. There were seating areas set up in the room arranged to encourage conversation amongst the guests as they drank the champagne that was circulating on trays around the room along with small canapes.

“We’re going to get burgers after this,” said Gabriel, taking notice of how small the finger food was.

“You read my mind.” you said as you continued looking around. There had to be at least 75 to 100 people in the room mingling and nibbling. Suddenly you heard your name being called.

“Y/N!”

You looked in the direction of the voice and saw Lily coming out the crowd with a large grin on her face.

“I’m so glad you could make it. We’re all sitting over by the fireplace. Let's get you guys setup with some drinks first before we go over there.”

A man passed with a tray of champagne and Lily stopped him grabbing a glass for each of you, handing them to you both.

“Follow me,” she said, starting to walk through the crowd to the group of couches and chairs arranged by the fireplace. You saw Eddie sitting there along with an older couple and they all stood when they saw Lily coming over with you and Gabriel.

“Y/N, Gabriel, these are my parents, James and Harriet.”

You both shook their hands and said your "nice to meet you's" before you all took a seat on the couches.

"Gabriel you look so familiar, have we met before?" asked Lily's father.

"Daddy, Gabriel is with Overwatch."

"That's it! Gabriel Reyes, right?"

"Yes," said Gabriel with a small smile.

"You know, I'm co-owner of a small munitions company. We sent a representative out there a while ago to demo our heat-seeking rounds we're bringing to market soon."

"I remember that. I had a chance to test them out on the range."

James' face lit up.

"Really? I'd love to hear what you thought of them."

Harriet put a hand on her husband's knee.

"Honey, this is Ed and Lily's party. Surely you can save the shop talk for another time?"

He nodded with a smile patting her hand.

"Yes dear." He looked at Gabriel, "We'll talk," he mouthed, gesturing back and forth with his finger. Gabriel nodded with a smile.

"Eddie, are your parents here?" you asked. He shook his head.

"They're flying in tomorrow."

Lily's mother chuckled.

"Eddie? I like that Y/N, a lot more playful than Ed."

"Sorry, he's always been Eddie to me." you said placing your hand on your chest.

"I've been meaning to ask, how do the two of you know Ed? We've enjoyed getting to know his friends from work and school. Are you school friends?" asked Harriet.

"He and I only just met yesterday," Gabriel said.

"Ah," she said, nodding, "and you Y/N?"

"Well Eddie and I used to date. We," you looked to Eddie as you spoke, his eyes going wide as he made a timeout gesture, trying to get you to stop talking, but you weren't getting the hint, "were engaged some years ago."

Both Harriet and James looked taken aback by that news and James’ scrunched his face as if he were confused. Eddie sighed, putting his head in his hand covering his eyes, shaking his head. Lily looked panicky as her eyes darted frantically from her parents to Eddie.

"Really?"

Harriet looked at Eddie then at Lily, her irritation visibly rising.

"You didn't tell us he had been previously engaged." said Harriet.

Lily laughed nervously, eyes still darting between her mother and Eddie.

"Of course I did mom, what are you saying?"

"You most certainly did not! I would have remembered something like that."

"Well what does it matter anyways? It's in the past. Ed and I are the ones getting married. It's no big deal."

"No big deal!? Lily, how many conversations do I have to have with you about a man's past behavior dictating his actions in the-"

"Harriet…honey," said James putting his arm around her, rubbing her shoulder, calming her down. "Maybe we should talk about this when we're all in private, huh?"

Harriet took a deep breath and gave an embarrassed smile as she composed herself.

"You're right honey…My, where are those waiters with the champagne. I think I'll go flag one down." she said, scooting forward to stand. She turned and smiled at you and Gabriel. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “It was lovely meeting you two.” You both nodded, then she got up.

"I'll come with you," James said, as he got up to join her. They walked away from the seating area.

There was a momentary silence when they left.

"Sorry, I just assumed they knew," you said.

"It's fine Y/N," said Lily.

Eddie's head snapped up as he glared daggers at you.

"No, it's not fine. You didn't see me telling you to shut the fuck up? Any moron would know what this means," he did the timeout gesture again. "How stupid can you be!?"

"Hey! She said she was sorry. Besides, it's not her fault you're keeping secrets from your future in-laws," said Gabriel.

Eddie glared at him.

"Look, I know you want to be Captain Save-A-Hoe, oh...oh excuse me "Commander"," Eddie made quotes with his fingers, "but do me a favor and butt out."

"Don't talk to him like that." you retorted. Eddie sighed.

"Now I need a drink." He got up and left the couch. Lily quickly turned to you.

"Y/N, it really is ok. I'm so sorry for how rude Ed-" started Lily.

"Don't apologize for him," you said. She sighed and nodded then stood.

“I’ll go calm him down,” she said before going after Eddie.

You and Gabriel took a collective sigh and sat back on the couch, his arm around your shoulders.

"What the fuck?" you said taking a sip of your champagne.

"We should go." he said.

"No, I think it would hurt Lily's feelings if we left. I'd like to stay, at least in support of her."

He sighed.

"Whatever you want Y/N. But if that little pissant ever talks to you like that again, I'm decking him."

"Not if I get to him first."

You both laughed.

Since you decided to stay, you both got up and circulated around the room, mingling with wedding guests and members of the bridal party for a while until you heard Lily’s voice over a speaker.

“Excuse me. _Tap tap tap._ Is this thing on?...It is? Ok. Hey everyone if you could all turn your attention this way for a second.” All the guests went quiet and turned toward the grand piano where Lily and Eddie were standing. She was talking into a mic. “Hey, so Ed and I just want to thank you all for coming tonight. It means so much to have you all be a part of our big day. I want to give special acknowledgement to everyone who took the time to fly in from out of town, we’re so appreciative and grateful that you're here. I hope you all are enjoying the champagne and canapes. Shout out to my aunt Mandy for providing her catering services, everything is amazing.” Lily raised her champagne glass in thanks and a woman in the crowd did the same. “So we figured many of you don’t know each other so we’ve arranged a few games to sort of break the ice. The first game is for couples only so if all my couples would come to the seating area in front of the piano we can get started. Thanks again everyone.”

You and Gabriel made your way over to the piano along with the other couples in the room. As you did, another woman got on the mic.

“Hi everyone, I’m Dawn, a friend of the bride-to-be and I’ll be MC’ing our games for tonight. Our first game is going to be a sort of modified Newlywed Game where you all will be answering questions about your partner to see which couple knows each other the best. To sweeten the deal a bit, there’s a prize for the winning couple. If I can get this handsome gentleman to hold it up.” A man standing next to Dawn held up the prize. “For those who can’t see, this is a very lovely, very heavy, very expensive cerulean blue, enameled cast-iron dutch oven.” Someone shouted something you couldn’t hear, “Yes, by that brand,” answered Dawn. There were oohs and aahs around the room, “It’s the largest size they offer and if you're the winning couple you can go home with it today.”

Your entire face lit up, eyes going wide as you placed your hand on Gabriel’s arm and squeezed, turning to look at him.

“I’ve wanted one of those my entire adult life. We’re not leaving here without that dutch oven.”

“Ok,” said Gabriel, amused by your excitement.

You went to the seating area and arranged yourselves on the couches, Gabriel sitting across from you. There were about 20 couples participating and when the couch space ran out the other couples stood, each partner standing across from each other. You were all then handed markers and a stack of blank letter-sized cards.

“Ok” said Dawn, “I’m going to quickly explain the rules and then we’ll get started. If you are sitting or standing to my left raise your hand.” You raised your hand. “You guys are Partner A, folks on my right you’re Partner B. I’m going to ask ten questions, the first of which will be addressed to Partner A about Partner B. Partner A is going to write their guess on their card. Partner B is going to write the correct answer to the question on their card, then we’re going to reveal the answers. If your answers do not match you’re out. The next question will be addressed to Partner B about Partner A and the next one Partner A about Partner B and they’ll alternate like that until I’ve asked ten questions. If there are more than two couples still standing at the end, I will continue to ask questions until two are left. We’ll do a sudden death round and then we’ll have our winner. Does everyone understand?”

“YES,” you all said.

“Good, let's get started.”

Dawn started asking questions and you all wrote your answers and revealed them. As she went on, one couple after another was disqualified. Eddie and Lily didn’t get past the second question. You and Gabriel, on the other hand, were still hanging in there and by the time Dawn got to the tenth question there was only you two and another couple left.

“Alright, this is the last question. If both of you are still standing after this, I’ll ask another one until we have a winner. Ok?” You all nodded. “Last question. What is Partner A’s go to comfort food?”

You all started writing on your cards. When everyone stopped writing, Dawn spoke.

“Partner B please reveal your answer.”

The room was silent as Gabriel and a woman from the other couple turned their cards around.

“Ha! Finally!” shouted Eddie with a smirk, “I guess you don’t know Y/N as well as you thought cause that is wrong wrong wrong!” he laughed loudly.

“Ed,” Lily said softly, grabbing his arm as her whole face went red, mortified by his outburst.

Gabriel sat there cool as a cucumber not reacting at all.

“Partner A turn your cards around please.”

You turned your card around. Both cards read “Pho”. Eddie’s laughter stopped abruptly as he looked at them, his face dropping in disbelief. The other couple’s cards didn’t match.

“Looks like we have a winner!” exclaimed Dawn as she came to stand in front of you and Gabriel. “You two, stand up and claim your prize!” The room erupted in applause.

“What?....We won?” you asked in disbelief. Dawn nodded her head. You shot up from your seat jumping up and down. “WE WON! WE WON!” you screamed. You rushed over to Gabriel and grabbed his face, kissing him hard, his eyes going wide, he wasn’t expecting you to do that. “We won baby! We won!”

A man walked over with the dutch oven, handing it to Gabriel.

“Look at it, it's so beautiful,” you said wiping tears from your face.

“Are you crying?” laughed Gabriel.

“I’ve never won anything. I’m so happy.”

Gabriel tucked the dutch oven under one arm and pulled you to him with the other, kissing your forehead. You put your arm around his back and laid against his chest wiping tears as you calmed.

As the other couples and observers got up to mull about and get more snacks and drinks they congratulated you both. You saw Lily walking toward you from the crowd.

“Congratulations guys.” She chuckled, "Are you crying Y/N?"

“All the excitement just made me a bit emotional,” you said with a smile. 

“I’m gonna take this out to the car,” said Gabriel. 

You nodded and he pecked your lips before he turned to go outside.

“So, I guess you guys know each other pretty well huh?” said Lily.

“I guess so. This was really fun.”

“Yeah it was...Hey since we have a little time, would you like to come out to my studio? Take a look at my paintings?”

“Absolutely.”

“This way.”

Lily led you out of the living room to what looked like a library. There was a door that led outside and you followed her out of it, walking along the side of the mansion past a garden that consisted of raised wooden planters in rows, overflowing with various flowers and small shrubs, all lit up with small lights in the ground. You both kept walking and came upon a large shed-like structure. It had wooden siding that was painted brick red and a flat roof that hung over the sides of the structure, which you imagined provided great shade on a sunny day. It had windows that were framed in white and glass double doors. From what you could see from the outside it looked like a nice private place to get away and paint or even just think.

Lily opened one side of the double doors and went to the wall to flip a light switch. What greeted you was a large open space that was divided into a seating area with a couch and coffee table and a work area where an easel and chair were set up next to a workbench where paint brushes, paints, and other art supplies were arranged. Along the wall was a 2-tier wooden rack where painted canvases were organized. Lily walked over to the rack.

“Here are most of my paintings, some are stored in the house.”

You went to the rack and pulled out the first painting. It was a beautiful landscape of a pond with children playing in front of it. You pulled out another, it was of what looked like a small apartment kitchen with a large window that was fogged up. You were in awe at how realistic it looked, like you could reach out and wipe the fog off the window. You looked at one painting after another, each one more beautiful than the last.

“These are amazing Lily. I mean, I’m no expert but I think you're really talented. Why would you give this up?"

Lily sat down in the chair in front of the easel. 

“I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to make Ed happy.” You looked at her.

“What about you? Does painting make you happy?” 

“To be honest, it's like therapy for me. Don’t tell Ed, but sometimes I sneak away to paint. I lie and say I’m going to the spa or on an outing with my mother, but really I’m here, painting. With the wedding and everything, I just need to relieve some stress.”

“I understand.” You thought to yourself. “Can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you feel like I’m prying.” Lily nodded. “Why didn’t you tell your parents about Eddie and I being engaged?”

She took a deep breath.

“Well, to be honest, it took them a while to accept Ed, especially my mother. She can be pretty judgmental and she found several reasons not to like him. Eventually they came around, somewhat, but Ed and I knew him having a failed engagement would just be another reason for them to be against him, so we kept it to ourselves.” She went silent for a second. “Why did you call off the engagement Y/N? Didn’t you love Ed?”

“When he pressured me to give up dance, which is like a lifeline for me, I realized Eddie wasn’t as interested in my happiness as I was, and I realized I loved being happy, even if that meant being happy alone. I loved it more than I loved him.” You paused for a moment. “I guess that’s why Gabriel and I work so well. He’s invested in my happiness, even if he has to step out of his comfort zone and stretch himself towards that end, and I’m just as invested in his. I’ve put my life on the line for it, and I know he’d do the same for me.”

Lily nodded thoughtfully.

“We should probably head back,” you said as you started putting the paintings you pulled out away. Lily stood and you followed her to the door. She turned out the light and you both headed back to the party.


	4. Cigars and Revelations

When you and Lily came back into the living room, you spotted Gabriel getting up from a couch with Lily’s father, where it looked like they had been talking. They began to make their way out of the room. As Gabriel and James approached from the opposite direction, getting ready to pass you and Lily, you gave Gabriel a puzzled look, wondering where he was going. 

“Cigars. Whiskey,” he said, excitement in his voice as he started to pass.

“Say no more. Have fun,” you said with a smile. You quickly linked fingers and let them slip away from each other as you passed.

James led Gabriel through the house to his smoking room, which looked exactly how Gabriel assumed it would, all wood grain and leather. There was a large fireplace in the middle of the room with a stags head above it. Leather seating surrounded the fireplace in a “U” shape. The studded, leather seats on each end of the “U” were large enough to accommodate two people while the seats in the middle were smaller leather chairs meant for one. In the middle of the “U” was a table where a box of cigars was already out and open. 

Gabriel went to grab one and have a seat but James stopped him.

“Leave those. The good stuff is over here.” Gabriel changed course and followed James.

He led him to the far wall where a small built-in bar was lit up. Glasses were arranged on a glass shelf and bottles of alcohol were arranged on a silver tray beneath it. James grabbed two glasses and picked up an expensive bottle of whiskey. He opened it and poured into both glasses picking one up and handing it to Gabriel, before he grabbed the other one.

Gabriel took a sip.

“Ahh,” he breathed, almost in relief. “Champagne is alright, but I’ll take whiskey over it any day,” said Gabriel.

“I’ll drink to that,” said James, raising his glass, then taking a sip, before he set it back down.

There were wood panels along the bottom of the bar. James pressed on one and it slid open to reveal a safe with a thumbprint scanner. He bent down and pressed his thumb to it. 

“I leave the inferior stuff out for the kids,” James said as he opened the door to the safe. “I keep the primo stuff in here.” 

He reached in and pulled out a shiny, piano black humidor. He stood and opened it to a neat row of cigars in black and gold cigar bands. He presented the box to Gabriel to take one, which he did. 

“Take another. One for the road.” said James.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I have a guy who keeps me well stocked.”

Gabriel grabbed another and put it in the breast pocket of his suit. Both men took a seat in the leather chairs with their whiskey and cigars and proceeded to cut and light them at the table. Gabriel sat back in his chair, relaxing and thinking to himself as he took his first deep draw, rotating the cigar as he did, enjoying the flavor.

They were pretty expensive cigars. The cynical part of Gabriel figured James was most likely buttering him up, hoping Gabriel would use his influence to help lock down a contract with Overwatch for his heat-seeking rounds. He could hear Jack’s voice in his head now, warning of the potential conflict of interest. Gabriel knew Overwatch’s business could take James company from small to not so small in the snap of a finger. However, what Gabriel already knew, was that Overwatch had already green-lit the rounds, they just hadn’t given James’ company the news yet. Was it really a conflict of interest if a decision had already been made? Besides, whatever James may be thinking, he was sorely mistaken if he thought Gabriel or his influence could be bought so cheaply, or at all for that matter.

“I hope you don’t think I’m trying to sway you with any of this,” said James, as if he had read Gabriel's mind. “It's not often I get to talk to the people who actually fire the rounds we make. I usually deal with procurement departments so talking to you is actually a treat for me, gives me a different perspective I can use in my manufacturing decisions. So no pressure here. This is just a couple of guys shooting the breeze, enjoying a good drink, smoking a couple cigars.” 

James sounded genuine and Gabriel found he appreciated that. Suddenly, Eddie came in with another man, drinks in hand, and sat on the opposite end from Gabriel and James, engaged in their own conversation.

"So how long you been in the munitions business?" asked Gabriel." 

"Oh my family has been in the business for generations. You heard of Ryedek?" Gabriel nodded. "That's my families company. I'd be running things over there now, but, they're kind of set in their ways over there, a lot of old guard ideas and red tape. I wanted do things differently, so I branched out on my own."

"I can respect that."

“James, dear?” called Harriet from the door. James turned in his seat to look at her. “Sorry to bother you, but I need your help with something.”

“Coming,” he said. “I’ll be right back.” Gabriel nodded. James set his cigar in the ashtray on the table and got up and left.

Gabriel continued to enjoy his cigar and his whiskey content in his own little world, when the man Eddie had come in with got up and came over to stand in front of him. Gabriel looked up at him and the man extended his hand.

“I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Terrance, best man.” Gabriel shook his hand.

“Gabriel, wedding guest.”

Terrance’s eyes went wide with recognition and amusement.

“Ah, so you're Gabriel.” he said with a sly smile.

“You know me?” 

“Not exactly,” he said sitting down in the seat next to Gabriel. “I think we’re neighbors at the Crown Hotel. You were gettin’ it in all night last night weren't you? I mean, by the time you guys finished I think everyone in the hotel knew your name.” 

A slow smile spread across Gabriel’s face.

“Sorry if we kept you up,” he chuckled before taking another draw from his cigar.

“Hey no worries man. Can’t fault a man for satisfying his woman. So which one of the pretty ladies out there are you here with?”

“Y/N.”

“Y/N?....Y/N!?” Terrance quickly looked at Eddie, who had been watching and listening to the exchange the whole time, “That Y/N?” he asked in astonishment.

Eddie nodded.

“Yeah, that Y/N.” said Eddie slowly, taking a gulp of his drink.

"Wow. Congrats man. I always thought she was a saucy little dish."

"Uh..thanks, I guess," said Gabriel, not sure how to respond. 

"You know that surprises me," said Eddie sitting forward in his seat. He rested his forearms on his knees, holding his glass down between his legs as he looked in Gabriel’s direction but didn’t meet his eyes. Like he was thinking about something far off. "Y/N was never one for marathon sex, in fact, willingness seemed to always be an issue for her."

"I guess things change," said Gabriel, swishing the whiskey in his glass around before taking a sip, slightly wary of where this conversation was going. 

"Not everything. She still walks around with her nose up in the air like she's the greatest thing ever." 

Gabriel looked at him, silent, waiting for Eddie to continue. Any other time he'd be all over him for talking shit about you but he really wanted to know what this man's issue was and sometimes it was just better to give people enough rope to hang themselves with. 

"You should have seen her back then, thinking she was such hot shit because she got to work with celebrities. A lot of times I had to bring her back to Earth, you know? Knock her down a peg."

"How would you do that exactly?" asked Gabriel, already feeling his irritation rise.

Eddie took a drink, continuing to talk as if he hadn't heard Gabriel's question.

"Every now and then I'd pick something about her to focus on. A body part, the sound of her voice when she laughed, the way she walked, how certain clothes fit her. Then I'd drop subtle...and maybe not so subtle hints that maybe those things could be improved. Maybe they looked better, or sounded better on other girls, and maybe I admired those girls more than her because of it. I'd get in her head about it, you know? And she'd obsess, trying to fix whatever it was. Spend an extra hour at the gym, laugh quieter, buy new clothes."

He took a swig of his drink as Gabriel glared at him. Terrance sat quiet, also looking at Eddie, expressionless. 

"I never actually had an issue with any of the things I pointed out, but I had to let her know she wasn't as hot as she thought she was, that all this new found confidence she thought she was walking around with was really just arrogance on her part, and that no matter how big she got in her career or whatever she'd never be bigger than me." He took another drink. "Looking at her now, I guess it didn't take."

Gabriel was seething but he kept his breathing steady keeping a tight lid on the rage that wanted to erupt from within him. He tapped the ash from his cigar into the ashtray, buying time to compose himself before he spoke. 

"So let me get this straight. You went out of your way to sabotage Y/N's self-esteem, because according to you, she was getting too big in the head?"

"I mean, I wouldn't put it like that, but that's the gist." Eddie said, pride in his voice.

Gabriel took a draw from his cigar, again, trying to keep himself calm, then blew it out.

"What was it that you said? Her lack of willingness to be intimate was an issue?" Gabriel asked.

"Sure was. Who knew she could be such a frigid bitch." smirked Eddie. 

Terrance's eyes went wide in disbelief at what he was hearing. Gabriel jerked forward in his chair, anger painting his features.

"Frigid!? You made her feel like shit about herself! Is it any wonder she wouldn't want to share her body with you!? What fucking planet are you living on!?” Eddie's eyes went wide, genuinely surprised by Gabriel’s anger as he looked at him. “You have some nerve walking around feeling big about making her feel small when you couldn’t even satisfy her. You tear her down AND you can’t fuck her worth a damn? Tell me Eddie? What fucking woman in her right mind would be willing to sleep with you after having to go through all that?"

Terrance's mouth formed an "O" as he started to silently laugh. Eddie blinked confusion on his face.

“Wait...what? What do you mean I couldn’t satisfy her?” 

Gabriel closed his eyes, realizing he had said too much. When he opened them Eddie was sitting there looking down, baffled.

“Did she say that? She said I couldn’t satisfy her?” 

Figuring there was no point in hiding the truth now, Gabriel nodded. Eddie became enraged.

“She’s a fucking liar! I used to have her screaming.”

“According to her, she became pretty adept at faking it.” 

Terrance turned to the side in his chair, turning his head around so Eddie couldn’t see him laughing harder now.

“Just proves what I said. She’s a frigid, unfeeling, bitch.” Eddie sneered angrily through clenched teeth.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes in a threatening stare.

"You have one more time to call her out her name in my presence."

Both men scowled at each other. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Eddie took a breath and sat back in his chair. 

"What's it matter anyways? She's your fucking problem now." said Eddie. 

"What's your issue with her? You mad she didn't want to stick around for your little head games?" Eddie didn't answer. "You treat Lily like that too?" Eddie remained silent but Gabriel assumed as much. "No wonder her parents don't like you. After the way you treated her yesterday, if she were my daughter, I'd have kicked your ass a long time ago."

"Lily’s not like Y/N. She's a good girl. She does what she's told," said Eddie. 

Gabriel shook his head slowly. 

"You disgust me. Somehow men like you always find these great women. Women who, frankly, are better than you, but for some reason have chosen to grace someone so beneath them with their presence and instead of appreciating them you try to break them down, like somehow them out there thriving in the world is some kind of affront to you. You're sick."

"Like I give a fuck about your opinion."

"In a few minutes you might, and you better hope for the sake of your face there's some redeeming quality about you that turns it into a somewhat favorable one."

"Are you threatening me?" 

"I don't make threats. But I do keep my promises."

"Then let's go!" 

Eddie jumped up from his chair, breathing hard, ready to challenge Gabriel. He looked like he expected Gabriel to at least flinch, but he just looked at him, unphased, like Eddie was inconsequential. Terrance jumped up and quickly went over to Eddie. 

"Hey, how about we go outside and get some air instead…come on." 

"Listen to your friend Eddie," said Gabriel sitting back in his chair taking a draw from his cigar.

Eddie continued to glare at Gabriel as Terrance pulled and pushed him out the room. 

Gabriel knocked the rest of his whiskey back, then put out what was left of his cigar and left the smoking room, making his way back to the living room. 

You were sitting on the couches with Lily and her bridesmaids, conversing, when you saw Gabriel coming toward you. You saw the look on his face and immediately knew something was wrong. You got up and went to him. 

"Gabe," you said, concern in your voice. 

"I'm ready to go Y/N," he said, taking your hand. 

"O..ok. Just...lets say bye to Lily first," he nodded. 

You walked over to where Lily was sitting.

"Lily," you said, getting her attention, "We're gonna go ahead and take off."

"Ok," she said as she stood. "Thank you both for coming," she said, giving you a hug. She seemed unsure whether she should give Gabriel a hug too, but he stepped forward and embraced her, rubbing her back like he was comforting her. She smiled as they parted. "I’ll see you tomorrow." 

"See you then," you said. 

"Have a safe ride to the hotel."

"Thanks," you said, "Bye." You gave a small wave.

"Bye."

You and Gabriel turned and left the mansion and made your way back to your hotel. 

Gabriel had been quiet the whole ride back. Brooding was more like it, but you didn’t say anything.

His demeanor seemed to relax a bit when you got back to your room and started to undress. You stepped out of your dress and laid it on the bed, then removed your bra. Gabriel came up behind you in nothing but his boxers and wrapped his arms around you pressing a kiss to your cheek, which made you smile. 

He turned you around and grabbed your face in both hands, tilting it up so he could look in your eyes. He looked at you for a while before pressing a gentle kiss to your lips, then both cheeks, then your eyelids, then your forehead before he let your face go and pulled you to him in an embrace, kissing the top of your head. You wrapped your arms around him in turn. He stood there silently holding you like that for a long time, before letting you go.

You both got into bed under the covers and you faced each other as you laid down, Gabriel moving close to you so your foreheads touched. He grabbed your hand and held it in his as he looked at you.

“What happened tonight?” you asked softly.

“Why didn’t you tell me Y/N? About how Eddie treated you?”

“What?”

“About how manipulative he used to be?”

“How do you know about that?”

“He bragged about it.” You took a deep breath, realizing now why Gabriel had been upset before.

“How do you tell somebody something like that? Hey Gabe, I was going to marry a man who manipulated me and made me feel like utter shit on a constant basis. I was going to marry a man who demanded I shrink myself so he could feel big and I did it because I wanted him to love me and even after I did, I was still too much for him. I didn’t even realize what he was doing and how much it had damaged me until after I left him and now that I'm here, it's like he manipulated me all over again. I thought that maybe he had changed, but he hasn't....I don't know. I've moved on from everything that happened in the past but when I think about it, I feel ashamed.”

“Why are you ashamed? If anyone should feel shame, it's him.”

“Because I hate who I was back then, so desperate, wanting someone to love me so badly that I’d accept anything.”

“Y/N, you didn’t know what you know now, but you learned, and you grew. That's something to be proud of. Be kinder to the old you. She didn’t have anyone to show her or tell her that she deserved better, be kinder to her Y/N….Be kinder to yourself.” 

You were holding back tears as he pulled you to his chest, resting his hand on the back of your head and rubbing your back, but as you laid against him in his warm embrace you began to cry. Cry for the old you, for the girl who just wanted to be loved, but was constantly told that who she was was too much to love. The girl who twisted and contorted and hurt herself in ways that left lasting scars that weren’t visible to the naked eye, but hurt and bled all the same. Then, you cried for Lily, because she was so much like you back then and she was being crushed right before your eyes and you were afraid it might be too late for anything to be done about it.


	5. Waxing and Mentors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kind of long but I reward with gratuitous smut at the end. Enjoy!

You and Gabriel were fast asleep when suddenly your phone started to ring. With your eyes closed, you rolled over onto your side toward the nightstand and reached your hand out, feeling for the phone. You swiped it with your thumb to answer the call and brought the phone to your ear.

“Hello,” you said half-sleep. “Eddie? What do you want?” Your eyes shot open. “You’re where?” You looked at the phone then brought it back to your ear. “Do you know what time it is?” You felt Gabriel put his hand on your back and rub as you listened to Eddie on the other end of the phone. You huffed a breath. “Fine.” You hung up, then sat up, pulling the covers back, swinging your legs over the side.

“Where are you going?” asked Gabriel, sleepily.

“Apparently Eddie is downstairs. I’m gonna go get rid of him.”

Gabriel sat up.

Eddie was waiting in the seating area of the hotel lobby when he saw Gabriel round the corner and come toward him in a t-shirt and sweatpants.

When Gabriel saw Eddie, who was still in his suit from the welcome party, he could immediately tell something was off and when he got in front of him he realized what it was. Eddie reeked of alcohol and he was swaying, unable to stand still.

“I call Y/N and she sends Muscle Man instead,” Eddie slurred.

“Clearly you're drunk.”

“No shit...Captain...Commander...Commander Obvvous...Obvious.” Eddie laughed to himself as he stumbled to the left.

Gabriel took a deep, annoyed, breath.

“Why did you come here.”

“I want to talk to Y/N,” he pointed at Gabriel, “Tell her to come down here….tell me to my face,” he touched his nose, “I can’t satisfy her.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. How about we go have a seat?”

“Fuck You!" Eddie stumbled to the right then started walking forward “Go get her myself.”

Eddie stumbled past Gabriel and Gabriel turned and reached out grabbing his shoulder. Suddenly Eddie spun around, attempting to throw a punch that did more to spin him off balance than anything else. Gabriel caught him before he fell to the floor.

“For fucks sake guy,” Gabriel said, irritation in his voice.

He began to drag him backward towards two chairs that faced each other in front of a nearby window.

“I might be smaller than you, but I...I can take you,” Eddie slurred.

“Ok,” said Gabriel, shaking his head.

When he got to the chairs he hoisted Eddie upright and helped him sit down, then took a seat in the chair in front of him, pulling out his phone so he could order him a rideshare home.

“Y/N...beautiful tonight, yeah?” said Eddie.

“Yeah,” said Gabriel as he tapped away on his phone.

“Always beautiful, too beautiful….she...she ruined other women for me, you know?....Nobody like her. I never got over her….never will.”

Gabriel looked up at him for a moment, slightly stunned by his drunken admission.

“Can you tell me your address?” asked Gabriel.

“Why? So you can murder me in my sleep?”

“You're not worth the effort, trust me.” Eddie laughed.

“That's probably true….I...I don’t remember.”

“Do you have your wallet on you?”

Eddie started patting himself down before removing his wallet from his pants pocket and throwing it at Gabriel. It hit his chin before falling to the ground and Gabriel glared daggers at Eddie before he reached down to pick it up.

He opened it looking for his ID, but what immediately caught his eye was a picture of you in the clear pocket of the wallet. You were younger in it, looking almost like a young girl, smile wide, eyes bright. To Gabriel you looked like you were even sweeter back then and he wondered how anyone could look at your sweet face and see the light in your eyes and purposely do anything to try to kill that. He looked at Eddie who was currently slumped in the chair fighting to keep his eyes open.

Part of Gabriel wanted to cave his chest in. Another was wondering why he was down here pretty much babysitting this asshole until his ride got here. But despite how he felt about him, he couldn’t let this idiot stumble around and possibly get himself killed, he didn’t want that on his conscience. He took the picture out of the wallet and tucked it into his pocket then started going through it to locate Eddie’s ID.

"THIEF! THIEF!" Gabriel’s head shot up looking at Eddie bewildered.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You stole my fucking wallet!" Eddie jerked forward in the chair reaching for the wallet but Gabriel pulled it back out of his grasp. "Call the police! He's robbing me!"

"Shut the fuck up Eddie! You just gave this to me, remember?"

Eddie went quiet, as he scrunched his face, eyes searching, looking like he was thinking harder than he ever had in his life. Then he smiled.

"Oh yeah," he laughed, looking over his shoulder at no one, "Cancel the police guys, it's cool." He faced forward again snickering to himself.

"Sit back, you moron," Gabriel said as he put his hand on Eddie's forehead and pushed him back into the chair.

Gabriel quickly located Eddie's ID and finished ordering the ride share. When it arrived, he hoisted Eddie up and helped him outside and into the car.

“Hey, I tipped you extra, see that he gets inside of his place, ok? Just make sure he gets in the door.”

“You got it,” said the driver.

“Thanks.”

Gabriel closed the door and the car took off.

When he got back in the room, he took the picture out his pocket and tucked it into a pocket in his bag. He then climbed back into bed laying on his back.

“Everything ok?” you said sleepily.

“Everything's fine baby, go back to sleep.” You snuggled close to him laying on his chest and he put his arm around you stroking your shoulder until he drifted back to sleep himself.

The next morning, you got up, showered, and dressed and made your way into town to meet Lily. She had scheduled some services at a local spa and had invited you to join her. When you got to the spa she was inside sitting in the waiting area. She got up when you came in and gave you a hug when you greeted her.

“Glad you could make it,” said Lily.

“It's been a while since I’ve pampered myself like this, so I figured, why not?”

“Really? I’m in here every month. I make a point to carve out the time to come in. For upkeep.”

“Upkeep?”

“You know? Keeping my nails done. Waxing my armpits and legs and especially down there.” Your eyes went wide.

“Down there?” Lily giggled at your reaction.

“Yeah. A while back Ed kinda started hinting that women being hairless in certain places was cleaner to him.”

“Hinting?”

“Well he’s actually never come out and said it directly. He just makes comments that make me feel like he would prefer that I kept myself waxed...Does Gabriel have a preference?”

“I don’t think so and if he does he's never voiced it." You paused for a moment. "That’s a lot of pain to go through for someone’s preference.”

“Yeah. Personally I’d rather be au naturel and just trim it up every now and then, and trying to keep things cleaned up for him in between waxes is a job in and of itself, but you get used to it.”

“So does he manscape for you? Shave his balls?” she giggled.

“No, he says men are supposed to be hairy.”

“And women aren't?" She shook her head. "Hmm.” You rolled your eyes.

This was new. When you and Eddie were together he never cared about your body hair. This must be some arbitrary thing unique to Lily that he could harp on and use to pick her apart.

You were snapped out of your thoughts as a woman came out to escort you both back for your first service, pedicures.

Meanwhile, Gabriel was back at the hotel making his way through a buffet line for breakfast. He had stopped at a custom omelet station and was watching as a chef expertly put together the bacon, cheese and veggie omelet he had requested. Terrance came to stand at the station next to him.

“Good Morning,” said Terrance.

“Morning,” said Gabriel coldly. Terrance took notice of his tone, but continued on.

“They’ve got a pretty nice spread laid out here huh?”

Gabriel grunted a reply. Terrance looked at Gabriel for a second then turned his attention to the chef and gave her his omelet order. At the same time, the chef making Gabriel’s omelet had finished and slid it onto a clean plate which he handed to Gabriel.

“Thanks.”

Gabriel made his way to an empty table to set his plates down and went over to the beverage station to get coffee. Just as he sat down, Terrance approached the table.

“Hey, do you have a problem with me?”

Gabriel looked at him.

“Should I? I mean, birds of a feather and all.” 

“Birds of a...what?” Terrance set his plate down on the table and sat down quickly, “Wait a minute. Are you saying you think I’m like Eddie?”

Gabriel shrugged.

“You’re best man at his wedding. I’m sure you know the way he treats Lily isn’t right. But you seem more than happy to stand up in support of him.” 

Gabriel started seasoning his food with salt and pepper and popped open a bottle of hot sauce which he shook onto his omelet, then started eating.

“Look, Eddie might be my friend, but I don’t condone any of the shit he does. I know he can say and do some pretty fucked up shit when it comes to women, but that’s never been me.” 

Gabriel chewed clearing his mouth before he spoke.

“So you just sit back and watch?”

“What am I supposed to do? We don’t get involved in each other's affairs like that. Bro code. You know how it is.”

Gabriel sighed.

“Unfortunately, I do. I used to be just like you, and my old friends ran the gamut between mildly disrespectful to straight up abusive to women. I didn’t condone it, but I never said anything either, too worried about being “bros”. Then I realized their behavior reflects on me. I didn’t want to be lumped in with those idiots, so I cut them off and I let them know exactly why I was doing it. A couple of ‘em took it to heart, most didn’t, but at least I drew a line.”

“Well that’s easy for you-”

“Easy? There was nothing easy about it. A lot of these men put their lives on the line for me. Some of them are the reason why I’m talking to you right now. You think it was easy telling people who bled for me that I didn’t want to associate with them anymore?”

Terrance sat there thoughtfully. Gabriel took a sip from his coffee mug then continued.

“Look, I can’t tell you how to handle your friendships. All I’m saying is, if what he does bothers you, you should say something. He’ll probably take it better coming from you.”

Terrance nodded. 

“I hear you.”

By early afternoon you and Lily were leaving the spa, nails done and freshly waxed.

“Lily, do you have a little time now? If you do, there’s someone I’d like you to meet. I just realized how close we are. They’re actually a couple blocks from here.” you said.

“Yeah. Ed came home shitfaced last night and he’s sleeping it off. He won’t be paying attention to when I get back so I have a couple additional hours to myself.”

 _She can’t even come and go as she pleases,_ you thought, hoping what Lily just said sounded as crazy to her when she heard herself say it as it did to you. 

“It's this way,” you said, taking the lead. The two of you walked for about five minutes before you stopped in front of a small art gallery. You pushed the glass doors open and went inside, Lily still following behind you. 

To your immediate right was a tall, slender woman, with black hair with grey streaks in it, wearing a large black cardigan over a black skirt which she paired with black stockings with a seam up the back and red heels. Her back was to you, adjusting a painting on a wall.

“Nanette?” you said, and the woman turned around. 

Lily looked shocked, not expecting the older woman, who now faced you, to be in a tight black leather and lace bustier top to go with the rest of her ensemble. Her eyes were rimmed in black eyeliner with a thick cat eye on the upper lids that looked like a professional had done it, and her lips were lacquered in a deep sultry red lipstick. Her hair harkened to that of pinup models from the 1940s and 50s, with two victory rolls that met on top, the rest of her hair cascading down in loose curls and waves.

As soon as she saw you, her eyes went wide and her face lit up as she held out her hands, palms up, and walked to you.

“Y/N! Ma chérie!” she exclaimed in a bit of a french accent.

You took both her hands as you beamed and you kissed each other's cheeks.

“It’s been ages. How have you been?” she asked.

“I’ve been good. Is Fabian here? I’d like to say hello.”

“Oh ma chérie, you did not hear? Fabian and I are no more,” you gave a small gasp.

“What happened?”

“Fabian was supposed to be teaching art, instead I find he is sticking his woodpecker in the students.”

Lily’s eyes widened looking side to side, looking uncomfortable with the conversation.

“No?” you said in shock. She nodded.

“Oh yes, so I got a divorce. I...how do you say this? Take him to clean?....Took him to the cleaners! Yes! I got the gallery and our home here in Montreal and the dog and a substantial alimony check every month.”

“Wow Nanette, good for you. I’m sorry about your marriage though.”

“What is this sorry? I’m happier than I’ve ever been. Divorce suits me.” She grabbed your chin looking at your face. “You’re glowing ma chérie. You have love in your life?”

You smiled.

“Well…” 

“Don’t be modest to spare my feelings. Despite what has happened I still believe in love, I still believe in romance.” She stepped close to you and Lily and lowered her voice, “You see that gentleman over there?” You and Lily turned around and saw a handsome, older man with white hair and a chiseled face in a blue suit speaking with some visitors. “He and I are very romantic about four times a week.” 

You and Lily looked at each other wide eyed and started snickering.

“Nanette!” you said low.

“What? I’m just showing you girls, romance is not dead for me. Anyways, who is this pretty thing you’ve brought with you?”

“This is Lily. Lily, this is Nanette.”

“Lovely to meet you Lily.”

“Likewise.”

“Nanette was such an integral part in helping me progress in dance. This woman has some crazy contacts and has pretty much seen and done everything,” you said, looking at Lily as you gushed over Nanette.

“Not everything, Y/N, but close enough,” Nanette said, with a sly smile.

“She’s always encouraged me and she has the best advice. When Eddie and I were together, she was a sounding board for me. She helped me make sense of a lot of things I was feeling at that time. She was such an excellent mentor to me, which is the main reason why I wanted you to meet her.”

“Aww Y/N you flatter me, but why should I be humble? Everything you say is true,” said Nanette, her eyes closed, basking in your praise. You all laughed. "Lily, ma chérie, I get the feeling your an artist. Am I right?" asked Nanette. Lily looked a little taken aback.

"I paint...or I guess I used to," she answered

“Well, it's my life’s passion to nurture artistic talent. I know you say you've given it up, but you don't sound sure. Either way, I’d love to see your work.”

“Really?” Lily said in surprise.

“Absolutely.” Nanette reached into the pocket of her oversized cardigan, and pulled out her card, handing it to Lily. “Please, call me whenever you’d like to bring some of your work in or I can come to you, we’ll figure it out. That’s my direct line so if you'd like to talk about your indecision about giving up painting, or talk about life,” she lowered the pitch of her voice and raised her eyebrow, “or men,” Lily giggled, “I’m always available.”

Lily looked at the card a little stunned.

“Um...thank you,” she said. 

“My pleasure. Now, I have meetings, come kiss me goodbye,” she held out her hands and again you took them and you gave each other kisses on either cheek. She held onto your hands and looked at you, “Bring by this new love of yours, I’d love to meet him.” 

“I will,” you said with a smile. Nanette then reached for Lily’s hands and she kissed each of her cheeks.

“Lily, ma chérie, I look forward to seeing your art and to many interesting conversations.” 

Lily nodded with a smile. Nanette let go of Lily’s hands looking at both of you.

“Now, I must go, au revoir my pets,” she made a dramatic exit, blowing kisses and waving as she went. 

You and Lily turned and left the gallery making your way back toward the spa. Lily held the card in her hands and kept looking at it. 

“Nanette is something else, isn’t she?” you said.

“Yeah.” Lily looked at you, “Thanks for introducing us. I think I might give her a call.”

“If you do, buckle up for some wild stories. You won’t believe the things she’s gotten into, highly entertaining.” 

Lily laughed. 

“I can’t wait.”

When you got back to the hotel it was still early afternoon. Gabriel was in nothing but his boxers sprawled out on the bed with the TV remote in his hand.

“Hey you, whatcha watchin," you asked.

“Some action movie.” 

“What did you get into this morning?” you asked. 

“Breakfast.”

“Hmm.” 

You took off your capri pants and unlatched your bra and pulled it from under your shirt dropping it to the floor. Gabriel sat up against the headboard and pat the bed between his legs.

“Come here.” he said.

You went to the bed and climbed on it over to Gabriel sitting between his legs, your back to his chest as he wrapped his arms around you and kissed your neck. 

“You smell good,” he said.

“Probably the lavender massage lotion they used at the spa.”

“Hmm, what else did you get done?” 

“Got a mani/pedi,” you held up your hand waving your fingers so he could see your blush and gold embellished nails. He smiled and grabbed your hand kissing the back of it. “and...I let Lily talk me into getting something else done.”

“What’s that?”

“I got a brazilian wax. It was the most painful thing I’ve ever done.”

“Hmm really? Well let's see if it was worth it,” he said, reaching his hand into your panties running his fingers over your hairless lips. “Oh....Oh that's….that’s smooth Y/N...and soft.” You breathed deeply as he caressed your skin with his fingers, his length hardening against you.

“You like it? I didn’t know if you would.” 

“As long as I can get to where I’m trying to go, you can do whatever you want down here.” You smiled. “Your skin does feel nice though.” he whispered. 

He placed his whole hand over your core then slipped his middle finger between your lips slowly rubbing up and down over your clit. You gasped as you relaxed into Gabriel’s chest as his other hand slid under your shirt squeezing your nipple between his fingers.

“Feel good?” he whispered in your ear. You nodded as his finger continued to slowly glide back and forth over your nub, his other fingers squeezing your pussy as you released a soft moan. He stopped and removed his hand from you. “Sit up, get on your hands and knees.” 

You did what he asked, rocking forward and getting on all fours on the bed. He knelt behind you and pulled your panties down to your knees taking notice of the lack of hair between your cheeks.

“Back here too?”

“Everything a brazilian bikini would cover,” you said.

“I see,” he said, excitement in his voice. 

You felt him breathe against your inner thigh before he pressed a gentle kiss making you shudder. He started to press a trail of kisses up your thigh on one side then repeated the action on the other thigh as you breathed deeply exhaling through your mouth.

He used the tip of his tongue to lick at the smooth skin of your lips, making you sigh. Then he moved to the crease between your thigh and your lips and licked a trail to the crease between your thigh and asscheek, using his teeth to nip at your cheek before he stopped and did the same on the other side, drawing soft moans from you as you lowered your head to the bed. 

He began to kiss at your perineum, nipping and licking at it softly.

“Oh my God,” you breathed, closing your eyes as you bunched the sheets in your hands. He flattened his tongue, licking your perineum full on before licking up to your pucker, lapping at it as you whimpered and sighed. 

“Fuck Gabriel, that feels so good,” you gasped. 

“You like that?” he breathed against your hole.

“Yes,” you sighed.

He slowly pressed kisses to your pucker then began to suck. You moaned softly, your legs trembling as your toes curled. Gabriel smiled. He loved driving you crazy. He continued to suck and lick for a while before stiffening his tongue and pushing it into your hole, getting the tip of his tongue past the tight ring of your opening and licking around it as it fluttered around his tongue. 

You we’re panting your moans now, struggling to maintain sanity. You were used to Gabriel’s kisses and licks at your back entrance but this was something totally different and new and it felt good and weird all at the same time. 

Gabriel pulled his tongue out of you and flattened it to lick at your pucker again before dipping his tongue back into your hole pushing in a little further this time, wrenching a loud shout from you. He felt your whole body tense and he began to caress and massage your asschecks trying to get you to relax. He reached a hand around your thigh and pressed his fingers to your clit. He didn't rub, just held them there, waiting for you to unclench your muscles and soon you did and soon he was rewarding you by rubbing slow circles over your clit as he fucked your back hole with his tongue, bobbing his head back and forth sinking deeper into you as you trembled and whined, the pleasure so intense tears started to escape from the corners of your eyes. 

You felt like you were on the verge of orgasm but it felt different, like it might be too intense to handle and your breaths started to come out in gasping pants. 

"Oh my God Gabriel….it feels so good…Oh my God...oh fuck I’m..I’m…” 

You let out a low guttural screaming moan as the most intense orgasm washed over you. Gabriel felt your hole spasming around his tongue hard as your whole body shook almost violently. He was still working your clit with his hand and he removed his tongue from you watching you come undone as he used his other hand to rub and caress your back and ass through your orgasm. 

You could feel your asshole clenching and unclenching as your orgasm went on and on. You thought you might cum forever but eventually it did end and you collapsed flat to the bed feeling euphoric and boneless as you breathed deeply. 

You felt Gabriel lay on top of you, the weight of him and his warm chest on your back comforting as he massaged your arms and pressed kisses to your skin. His member was rock hard between your cheeks and you found yourself lifting your hips to press yourself against it. 

"More?" he asked. 

"More." 

"You don't want to rest first?" 

"I'll rest when we're done."

He smiled. 

"There's my little sex kitten." you giggled. 

30 minutes later you were on your back, head on the bed the rest of your body arched up as Gabriel held your hips up to him, kneeling on the bed, between your legs as he pounded into you. You looked at each other as you gripped the edge of the bed behind you. Gabriel was talking to you as he fucked into you deeply. 

"Love you...mi princesa….luz de mi corazon."

"Amor de mi alma….mi rey" you breathed. He raised his eyebrows in surprise as he smiled. 

"Tu rey!?" you nodded smiling back. He laughed, "Me gusta mi amor, me gusta." 

He sped up yanking you to him now as your hand shot between your legs rubbing at your clit. You were close and your moans started to get louder and louder. 

"Cum for me Y/N. Cum for your king."

"Gabriel!" you screamed as you tipped over the edge, dragging him over with you as you moaned loudly through your orgasm. Gabriel slammed into you pumping shallowly as he filled you with his warm seed groaning through clenched teeth as he squeezed your ass while still holding you up. 

Soon you were lowering your back to the bed and Gabriel was collapsing on top of you, kissing you deeply as you both hummed. He pulled back, your breaths the only sound in the room. That's when you both heard something on the other side of the door. Men chanting.

"Ga-bri-el, Ga-bri-el, Ga-bri-el….!"

Gabriel smiled then burst out laughing pressing his forehead to your chest. 

"What the fuck is that!?" you exclaimed. He looked at you amusement on his face 

"We're neighbors with some of the groomsmen. They can hear us when we're…." You're eyes went wide as your face heated. 

"Are you serious!?" 

The chant got louder then they started banging on the door, hooting and laughing before they stopped and went away. You slapped your hand over your face.

“How am I gonna face them later on tonight?” you whined.

He rolled off you onto his back laying next to you. 

“Y/N you're the most satisfied woman in this hotel and everyone here knows it. Face them with pride. I know I will.” he said with a smirk.

You shoved his shoulder.

“Shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Ma chérie - my darling
> 
> Luz de mi corazon - light of my heart  
> Amor de mi alma - love of my soul  
> Mi Rey - my king  
> Tu Rey - your king.  
> Me gusta mi amor me gusta - I like it my love I like it


	6. Stags and Hens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long chapter, but a fun one I think.

After your vigorous sex session, you and Gabriel lazed about for the rest of the afternoon, before you got up and started to get ready to meet up with Lily, Eddie, and their invited guests for their joint bachelor/bachelorette party. Lily had told you that she had wanted separate parties, but Eddie insisted they do them together. After your interactions with Eddie the day before, you and Gabriel were both wary about how the evening was going to go. At least you could dress casually, the one comfort in this uncomfortable situation you were about to embark on.

Eddie and Lily had rented out half the rooftop of a restaurant and lounge, which included a dedicated bar and outdoor seating area complete with outdoor couches, tables, and chairs so the guests could eat and drink in comfort. The other half of the rooftop was open to the public and you all shared a DJ, who was situated in a booth between both sides, and a dancefloor.

When you and Gabriel arrived, you in a beige romper with frilly sleeves and black strappy heels and Gabriel in dark blue jeans and a black button up with black snakes embossed onto it, much of the wedding party and other guests were already there congregating around Eddie and Lily as they all talked, ate, and drank. You went over to Lily and Eddie to greet them. It was awkward and obvious you were only saying hello to Eddie to be polite.

You and Gabriel took a seat on the far end of the couch, a few people down from the couple. The couch overlooked the edge of the roof which gave a good view of the surrounding area. The entire space was lit up with string lights and the music poured out from strategically placed speakers as you all mingled and got acclimated to the space and each other.

Pretty soon both sides of the rooftop were filled with people, but the dancefloor remained empty. The DJ decided to do something about that. The intro to a song came on and almost every woman on the rooftop started shrieking as they made a mad dash for the dancefloor. You didn’t scream, but your face immediately lit up.

Gabriel looked at you. Without you having to ask, he quickly took your clutch bag out your lap and your drink out your hand as you scoot forward in your seat and got up to almost run to the dancefloor.

Terrance came and sat down next to Gabriel laughing.

“That’s smooth how you guys have that worked out.” Gabriel huffed a laugh.

“She gets tunnel vision when it comes to dancing. It’s either take the stuff from her or let it fall to the ground.”

Terrance chuckled. They both went silent as they watched you dance, rolling your body, whipping your hair, and winding your hips seductively to the beat, dancing by yourself in your own little world.

“Damn, is it hot in here or is it just me?” said Terrance.

“It's her. You can say it,” replied Gabriel, both men keeping their eyes on you.

“How do you do it? If she were mine, I’d want all of that for my eyes only.”

“You want to talk about something not being easy. I’m getting better, but early on in our relationship I had to actively fight myself to keep from grabbing her up. Now I just remind myself that you all can look, but she’s coming home with me.”

“Lucky you,” said Terrance. Both men chuckled.

Gabriel and Terrance weren’t the only one’s enjoying your dancing. Quite a few people had turned their attention to watch you.

“Wow, is that Y/N? Mama’s got moves,” said one of Lily’s bridesmaids. She was standing in front of the couch with her drink in hand.

“She’s really good,” said Lily.

“If blatant attention seeking is your thing, sure,” said Eddie.

Gabriel and Terrance heard him and looked in his direction.

“I don’t think she’s drawing attention to herself on purpose Ed. She’s just that good, you can’t help but watch,” said Lily.

He rolled his eyes.

“Hey Gabriel,” called the bridesmaid, he looked at her, “She teaches right?” He nodded. “You think she’d show me a few things?”

“I think she’d be happy to,” he said.

The bridesmaid set her drink on a nearby table.

“I’m going out there,” she said, making her way over to you.

“Wait for me,” called another bridesmaid as she followed with another woman following behind her.

Everyone watched as the small group of women came up to you and you began to give them an impromptu lesson. Soon you were all dancing together, singing, and moving to the music. You danced through a handful of songs before coming back to the couch to rest and get drinks.

You sat next to Gabriel, holding your drink with one hand and your straw with the other as you sipped. He wrapped his arm around your back, his hand on the side of your thigh, pulling you to him so he could kiss your cheek and neck. You turned to him and pecked his lips.

“You gonna dance with me tonight?” you asked.

“Maybe.”

“Just maybe? Any way to change that to a 'yes'?”

“Keep dancing the way you have been, and you might persuade me to join you,” you smiled.

You were getting ready to kiss Gabriel again when you heard your name being called.

“Y/N! We’re going back out, you coming?” It was the bridesmaids you had been dancing with before. Gabriel took your drink from you and kissed your lips.

“Go,” he said. You quickly pecked his mouth and got up.

You turned and noticed Lily watching you guys go out to dance, looking like she wanted to join in. You went over to her and held your hand out to her.

“You coming Lily?” you asked.

Her face lit up as she took your hand scooting forward to get up. Eddie put his hand on her thigh and gave a light squeeze and she ceased all movement, expression dropping as she sat back, shaking her head at you.

You glared at Eddie and he glared back. You tightened your grip on Lily's hand and pulled her up from her seat.

“Come on Lily,” you said, putting your arm around her as you led her to go dance. “It's your bachelorette party, let’s have some fun.” She glanced back at Eddie, a bit of worry on her face but she turned back around and kept moving forward.

Eddie looked highly irritated as his eyes followed you. He made eye contact with Gabriel, who was looking at him, his eyes daring him to say something.

Upon seeing Lily head to the dancefloor, the other bridesmaids who had been sitting around, got up and joined you all. The group formed a loose circle and you all took turns dancing in the middle cheering each other on.

By this time the dancefloor was pretty packed with people and the music was loud. The speakers concentrated on that area. As you and the group of bridesmaids danced, Lily in the middle this time, you eyed Eddie coming over, scowl on his face.

“Lily,” he called.

His voice must have carried over the music because Lily slowed her dancing a bit, looking around to see who was calling her, before picking up the pace again.

You and the other bridesmaids made eye contact with each other. Wordlessly, you all started to tighten the radius of the circle around Lily, then you subtly moved together into the crowd making it more difficult for Eddie to get over to your group.

“Lily!” he yelled coming up on his toes trying to see you all through the throng of bodies dancing on the floor.

“Go Lily!” shouted one of the bridesmaids.

“Lily!’ shouted Eddie.

Suddenly all the bridesmaids started shouting, cheering and clapping as she danced in the middle of you all,

“Go Lily! Go Lily! Go! Go! Go!”

Soon you all we’re shouting so loud you could no longer hear Eddie calling her name. Eventually Eddie gave up and went to sit back down.

You all stayed out on the dancefloor through several songs, dancing, singing, laughing, and just having a general good time. Lily looked like she was having the time of her life.

Eventually, you all needed a break and dispersed, Lily going back to her seat with a couple other bridesmaids while you and three others, Tammy, Tiffany, and Lauren, made your way to the bathroom.

When you got in the bathroom, you went into one of the stalls to relieve yourself while the other three women touched up their makeup in the mirror talking to each other as they did.

"Oh my God, I can't stand Ed," said Lauren as she pulled her hair back, fanning at her neck.

"I know right. He's like, determined not to let Lily enjoy herself. I mean why have a bachelor/bachelorette party in the first place?" said Tammy as she pumped the wand of her lip gloss in its bottle before applying it.

"Well my understanding is this was always supposed to be Lily's party, but he insinuated himself into her plans. He just can't stand for anything to be about her. This is like the hair thing all over again," said Lauren.

"What hair thing?" asked Tiffany, eyes shifting to Lauren in the mirror. She had just finished misting her face with toner.

"Damn, I wasn't supposed to say anything but…I don't know, something like that shouldn't be kept a secret."

"So, what happened?" asked Tammy.

"Don't get me wrong, I love Lily's pixie cut, but she didn't cut her hair by choice. We have a friend who's a fashion designer. He had a show coming up and he had this beautiful dress and hair concept he thought Lily would be perfect for. Remember how long and luxurious her hair used to be?"

"Oh my God. It was like total hair goals." gushed Tiffany.

"Yeah well Ed wasn't too happy about her being in the show. The morning of, she calls me in tears. Ed had cut her hair while she was sleeping."

You heard the women gasp.

"No fucking way," said Tiffany turning to look at Lauren, shock on her face.

"Bastard!" shouted Tammy, anger on hers.

"Yeah, she came over and showed me. It was a real hack job, like he had taken a weed whacker to her hair. As soon as she took off her hood, I was halfway out the door to go rip him a new one, but she begged me not to. I got her an emergency appointment with Sergey at Le Chic and he worked his magic, hence the pixie cut. But I told her, ‘Babe, you need to give that man back his ring and leave him. If he's behaving like that it can only get worse’.”

You came out the stall to go wash your hands, stunned by what you had just heard. When you and Eddie were together, he had done things to try to sabotage your career. Alarm clocks would suddenly not work when you needed them to, plane tickets would go missing, voicemails and emails for jobs would magically get erased before you could hear or see them. But he had never physically harmed you. What he had done to Lily was a violation you never thought him capable of. You realized that not only had he not changed but he was getting worse.

"Y/N you used to date him, right?" asked Lauren. You nodded, "Was he always like this?"

"Pretty much, although the thing with the hair is something totally out of left field."

Tiffany was looking down deep in thought. She suddenly looked up and spoke.

"You know now that I'm hearing all of this. I don't think I can go through with being a bridesmaid anymore."

"What? Tiffany come on," said Tammy, looking at her.

"I love Lily, but I can't support her marrying Ed."

"Have any of you talked to her about your concerns?" you asked.

"I did after the hair incident, but I can't speak for the other bridesmaids," answered Lauren.

"I think you guys should come together and say something. Don't ambush her or give her an ultimatum or anything like that but voice your concerns about Eddie. You're her friends and this is a difficult time for her. I think it would help her to know you guys support her and have her back regardless of what happens," you said.

The three women nodded.

"Tomorrow is the rehearsal dinner, maybe we can say something then," said Tiffany.

You all finished checking yourselves over in the mirror and you followed the ladies out the restroom.

As you came out, a hand latched onto your wrist and began to tug you to the wall at the end of the hall. Eddie yanked you to the side, turning to glare at you.

“I’m getting real sick of you,” he pointed at you, finger in your face, “and your meathead boyfriend meddling in my business with Lily. That little stunt you pulled earlier? Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“Eddie you-,” he cut you off, getting in your face, tone harsh as he spoke to you.

“You know, I never fucking wanted you here. Inviting you was Lily’s stupid idea and I regret ever listening to her….”

Terrance came out of the bathroom looking to his immediate right. He saw you and Eddie in a heated conversation, Eddie in your face menacingly, as he shouted at you angrily. Then Eddie grabbed your wrist. Terrance sighed, shaking his head as he turned to go back out to the party.

“Let go Eddie, you're hurting me,” you said.

Terrance stopped in his tracks, thinking to himself, then turned back around coming over to you and Eddie.

“Eddie, what are you doing man?”

“It's cool, Y/N and I are just having a little chat.” he said, narrowing his eyes at you, still holding your wrist.

“That's all well and good but you don’t have to hold on to her like that to talk to her. Didn’t you hear her say you're hurting her?” Eddie looked at Terrance incredulously. Terrance continued. “Come on man, let her go.”

He kept looking at Terrance for a moment then looked at you.

“I think you got my message.” Eddie said, bringing his face close to yours, “Stay out of my fucking business,” he spat releasing your wrist.

You pulled it to you massaging it with your other hand as Eddie turned pushing past Terrance and walking away.

“You ok Y/N?”

“I think so. Thanks for stepping in."

"No problem."

You both started walking back to the party together, his hand on your back as he escorted you.

"It's strange, when me and Eddie were dating, I know you saw and heard some of the things he was doing to me and I always wondered why you never spoke up. I just assumed it was because you two are the same."

"I'm sorry about that Y/N. I should've said something back then and I wanted to, I just didn't know how." He paused. “I’ll make an excuse for you if you want to take off now.”

“Nah, I’m not gonna let Eddie ruin my good time.”

As you came back out on the roof with Terrance, Gabriel was posted up at the bar to your immediate right and he called you over when he spotted you. Terrance followed behind.

“Apparently Eddie and Lily have a signature cocktail. Try that,” he said, handing you a red drink in a highball glass. You took a sip from it.

“That’s pretty good.”

“It’s a little too fruity for my taste. You can have it.”

“Is that why you called me over here? To pawn your drink off on me?”

“You know I hate to see alcohol go to waste.” You rolled your eyes.

“Sure.”

He put his hands on your waist and lifted you up into a bar seat then both men took the seats next to you. You all sat, talking and drinking for a while, when the DJ decided to slow things down, playing slow R&B songs and ballads back to back. You touched Gabriel's arm.

"You gonna dance with me now?" You asked. He smiled a bit.

"I guess, come on."

He helped you off the bar seat and took your hand leading you to the dance floor. A ballad was currently playing, and you ran your hands up Gabriel's chest placing your hands on his shoulders. He put his hands on your hips pulling you close, placing his palms on your lower back as you both began to move side to side. You looked at each other and he leaned down to kiss you, one of his hands sliding down to grip your ass, making you smile against his mouth as one of your hands moved to the back of his neck. He pulled back breaking the kiss and you repositioned your hands so you could lay against his chest as he wrapped his arms around you, both of you still swaying slowly as you moved in a circle.

The ballad ended, and a slow but upbeat R&B song came on and you turned around pressing your body to him, your ass in his crotch as you began to roll your body against him, grabbing his hands and running them down your body as you ground your ass against him to the beat of the song. You bent over circling your ass in this crotch before placing your hands in his. He held them up as you dropped down to the floor and brought your ass up slow, wiggling it against him. You came up right reaching behind you to place your hand on his cheek as he wrapped his arms around you placing kisses on your neck.

"You done driving me crazy?" he whispered in your ear.

"Never,” you giggled.

The party continued on and you and Gabriel continued to give Eddie a wide berth, but you enjoyed your time with each other and the other guests. In fact, you had a little too good of a time. Gabriel stepped off the elevator on your floor of the hotel, carrying you over his shoulder as you sang at the top of your lungs.

***Hopelessly Devoted to You by Olivia Newton-John***

_There’s nowhere to hide  
Since you pushed my love aside_

“Shhhh Y/N, it's the middle of the night,” said Gabriel, lightly smacking your ass. You laughed then kept singing.

_I’m outta my head  
Hopelessly devoted to yooouuuuu  
Hopelessly devoted to yoooouuuu ooooOOOOOoooo  
Hopelessly devoted to you_

Gabriel quickly got you in the room and laid you down on the bed on your back. You started to giggle as he began to remove your heels.

“Gabreel,” you slurred, coming up on your elbows to look at him, smiling as he unzipped one of your heels and pulled it off, dropping it to the floor.

“Hmm.”

“I had fun tonight. Let’s do this all the time.”

“Mmm hmm,” he replied, dropping your other heel to the floor. 

He turned to get a t-shirt out his bag. As he did, you rolled onto your stomach, coming up on your knees, then you stood and started jumping on the bed, laughing. He swiftly turned around coming to stand at the edge of the bed.

“Y/N.”

“How high do you think I can go?”

“Baby, sit down,” he said, reaching out to you. You grabbed his hand continuing to jump.

“Jump with me.” 

“We’re gonna break the bed Y/N,” he chuckled, “Stop, come here.”

You stopped and walked over to him on the bed shakily, still holding onto his hand.

“Come to daddy?” you asked, he smiled.

“That’s right baby, come to daddy.”

He lifted you off the bed to the floor then started unbuttoning your romper. You stood there watching him blinking slowly.

“You wanna have sex with me?” you slurred.

“You didn’t get enough earlier?” he opened your romper pushing it off your shoulders and arms, so it fell to your feet.

“Never enough. I want you all the time,” He smiled as he pulled you to him and reached behind you to unlatch your bra which he also pushed off your arms so it fell to the floor.

“I want you too, but no sex tonight. Tonight, we sleep.”

“You're no fun.” 

“I know...arms up.” 

He pulled his t-shirt over your head then pulled the covers back on the bed so you could get in. He pulled the covers over you and undressed himself, turning off all the lights, before he got in bed next to you. You rolled over to him and got on top of him, leaning down to kiss his chest.

“Y/N,” he said, putting his hand on your head.

“So sexy,” you slurred, moving down to lick up his stomach, making his muscles jump.

“Y/N.”

“Shhhh.” 

You reached your hand up and he thought you were going to put your finger to his lips to quiet him, but you put your whole hand on his face. You licked up his stomach again then sat up leaning down to kiss him. He kissed you back, rubbing his hands over your back. Suddenly he realized you were no longer engaged in the kiss but your lips we’re still pressed to his.

“Y/N? Y/N?”

You let out a loud snore and he smiled to himself. He rolled you onto your side then kissed your forehead.

“Good night, Y/N.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopelessly Devoted to You has been stuck in my head for days, don't ask why.


	7. Orchids

You groaned as you rolled onto your back early the next morning and slowly opened your eyes. Your head was pounding and your eyes ached.

"Good Morning Y/N." Gabriel said into your ear. 

You winced, reaching to push him away from you.

"Ugh, come on," you whined. 

"Hungover? I tried to tell you, you were overdoing it."

"Stop talking Gabriel, please," you whined, grabbing the covers and pulling them over your head as you rolled to your side. You could hear him chuckling as he moved close to your back, kissing the back of your neck, his arm wrapping around your middle. 

"Go away. You're irritating," you said.

"That's not what you were saying last night. Last night you thought I was sexy."

"I made a mistake." He laughed

“You're so cute when you're grumpy Y/N.”

“And you're cute when you're quiet.”

“Tell you what, I’ll be quiet for the next few hours, then you gotta get up. We’re having brunch with your friend, remember?” You sighed.

“I remember.”

“There’s water and tylenol on the nightstand. Take that before you go back to sleep.”

You pulled the covers off you and sat up a bit to take the tylenol and chug the water then you pulled the covers back over you and went back to sleep.

When you woke next, you felt a little better, less groggy and there was less of an ache in your head. Gabriel was seated at the desk in the room with earbuds in, on a video call with Jack, speaking low so he didn't wake you. 

You got out the bed and went over to him, maneuvering yourself onto his lap as he pulled the earbuds from the holopad so the sound came out into the room. 

"Hey Y/N, heard you got trashed last night," said Jack, with a smile. 

"I think 'trashed' is an overstatement," you replied. 

"You got down on one knee in the elevator and held a complete stranger's hand while you sang to him. I think trashed is accurate," said Gabriel as he rubbed your lower back. 

Jack chuckled. You looked at Gabriel, confusion on your face. 

"That didn't happen."

"Yeah, it did."

Your eyes went wide as your cheeks heated. You quickly turned to look at the screen. 

"Well that's enough about me. How are you Jack? How are things at home?" 

"Well, I was just telling Gabe, the washing machine is on the fritz."

"Again?" 

"Again. They're sending someone out to look at it, again. I think we should just replace it ourselves, then decide if we want to keep it or get a credit for it on the rent."

"Oooo new appliances," you said rubbing your hands together with a grin.

"Appliance Y/N. One appliance," said Gabriel. 

You turned to look at him. 

"Why are you saying it like that? I know that."

"Because every time you rub your hands together like that, I end up spending more money than I initially set out to."

"Is this about the bedroom furniture?" you asked. 

"One bed frame turns into an entire bedroom set that I still think was unnecessary."

"Mismatched furniture gives me anxiety. Plus, I paid half."

Gabriel covered his eyes with his hand and shook his head. 

"Whatever Y/N. Still more money then we said we would spend. We always go in with a plan and then you blow it up."

You shrugged, "Sorry." You turned face on to the screen so Gabriel couldn’t see you. “No I’m not,” you mouthed at Jack.

He laughed. 

"You guys think about what you want to do and let me know, preferably by this evening. I gotta go."

"See you Jack," you said. 

"I'll text you tonight," said Gabriel. 

"Bye guys."

The call ended. 

You got up and started getting ready for the day. Gabriel was already dressed and ready to go. While you lazed about yesterday, you arranged to meet Nanette for brunch and that's where you were headed that morning.

When you got to the restaurant, Nanette was already there sitting in the outdoor seating area sipping tea. Today she had on a black leather short-sleeved sheath dress which she paired with zebra patterned pumps. Her hair was still in victory rolls in front but the back was pinned up into a french twist. 

You called out to her as you entered the seating area and she stood from her seat holding her hands out to greet you, smile wide, as you moved toward her. You took her hands and you kissed cheeks as you moved to stand next to her so you could present Gabriel, who was now standing in front of you two. 

"This is Gabriel," you said. Nanette looked in awe. 

"Hello, I am Nanette," she said with a sensual smile extending her hand for a finger handshake. Gabriel gently took her fingers into his hand and gave a light squeeze. 

"Nice to meet you," he said. She continued to look at him, eyes twinkling as she spoke. 

"Y/N, he is a vast improvement from Eddie,” she said, looking Gabriel up and down admiringly. “Eddie was cute in a boyish sort of way but this, this ma chérie, is a man.” He smirked a little, “Ah and with a devilishly handsome smile on top of everything else,” she said giving a coy smile back.

“Nanette, you're embarrassing him,” you said with a smile. She looked at you.

“Embarrass? Please," she said with a wave of her hand, "I'm talking to a man well aware of the effect he has on women, no?" She looked at him

"You're correct,” he answered with a smile.

"I always am, but thank you for saying it. Now, please, both of you, sit, sit." She gestured to the chairs on the other side of the table. 

Gabriel moved around the table to pull out your chair and you and he sat on one side of the small circular table, your chairs close together, his arm over yours as Nanette re-took her seat opposite you two. 

A waiter quickly came over and gave you both waters and menus and you put in your drink orders before he left. 

"Now, I want to know everything about you two. How did you meet?" asked Nanette

"Well-" you started. 

"Shh shh shh I want Gabriel to tell me. Go on mon cher." 

"Ah...well Y/N came to work at Overwatch. We met there."

"Workplace romance, I love it. Tell me Gabriel, was it love at first sight for you?"

"Not exactly. Don't get me wrong, when I first met her, I thought she was very pretty-"

"You did?" you asked. He nodded. 

"I know I wasn't the kindest to you when Jack introduced us, but, I was attracted to you from the moment I saw you, I just ignored it."

You smiled. 

"When did you know mon cher? That she had to be yours?" asked Nanette. 

He smiled as he took your hand in his, intertwining your fingers. 

"There was a gala we went to. My first time seeing her all dressed up and she took my breath away." Your cheeks heated as you smiled looking from Nanette to him, "I kissed her for the first time after we danced and then I got pulled away for a meeting, then the night just went left. But I had this whole speech planned in my head. I was planning to tell her that I had feelings for her and that I wanted us to date and see where things go," he huffed a laugh, "Life had other plans I guess and I kind of lost my resolve. But it was in the days before the gala when I made up my mind."

"Your first time hearing this Y/N?" Nanette asked, you nodded. "This is why I wanted him to tell your story from his perspective, you learn things you didn't know."

The waiter came with your drinks and you all ordered food. He left again to put in your orders. You felt slight nausea come over you. 

"Ma chérie are you ok?" Nanette asked, reaching to hold your cheek. 

"I'm a little hungover from last night. Lily's bachelorette party."

Nanette smiled, "I see."

"I'm gonna go to the restroom real quick." 

You stood and made your way inside the restaurant. 

Gabriel watched you as you left the table and he was still staring after you as Nanette spoke. 

"You want to marry her, no?" 

He turned and looked at her slightly surprised. 

"I…How do you…?" she smiled 

"I can see it in your eyes, mon cher. Just now, when she walked away, there was a split second of panic, like you’re afraid she’ll walk away with your soul and never come back. This is how you feel but you hesitate, why is that?"

Gabriel was a little caught off guard at how she had figured all that out. He cleared his throat a bit before he spoke.

“My career for one. Things have been relatively routine so far. Currently, I’m really not doing much that puts me in harm's way, but that’s about to change soon. I worry about dying on her, leaving her a widow.”

She nodded.

“A worry you have in common with many many other men regardless of career, but I don’t think that's it.” 

He sighed, taking a sip of his drink as he composed his thoughts.

“I’ve seen a lot, done a lot, not all of it what one would call 'good' in a moral sense. She’s gotten a taste of some of the darkness in my past and she’s stuck by me but…” he paused, thinking before he spoke next. “I’ve done what I’ve had to do out of duty and survival and I may act unapologetic about most of it, but, I have regrets, too many to count. Some things still haunt me and in a way I feel….tainted. I don't talk about it and she's all goodness and light which I guess keeps her from seeing all the blood and muck and mire on my hands, but one day she will.”

“And you think she will run.” 

He nodded. Nanette nodded as well and took a sip of her tea, thoughtfully looking at the flowers in planters attached to the wrought iron enclosure that surrounded the seating area. Gabriel followed her gaze.

“I enjoy flowers. Not so much growing them myself, because I’ve never been much of a gardener but, to look at, to smell. I learned the other day there are flowers that can go through all manner of abuse; trampling, branches falling on them and they can bend and repair themselves to not only continue to survive but to thrive. Delicate, beautiful flowers, like orchids and sweet peas. But then there are those who don’t bounce back. You step on them and they’re done. Buttercups and petunias.” She took another sip of tea. “You look at Y/N and you see a buttercup, a delicate flower that must be protected, lest she be trampled by life, by your truth, and never bounce back. But you forget she has been through her own battles, has seen and experienced her own share of darkness and it has left her with a capacity for understanding that far exceeds many others. Y/N is an orchid mon cher, she may look delicate, but she can take whatever is thrown at her and survive it.” She looked at him, “The question is, will you trust her enough to allow her to show you she can?”

He looked at her, wheels turning in his head as he processed what she said. You came back to the table and sat down just as the food arrived. 

You all ate and continued to talk until your plates were clear. You paid for your meals then stood to say your goodbyes. 

You came around the table and took Nanette's hands. 

"It's been lovely to see you again ma chérie. I'm so happy to see how you have flourished since you left Montreal. Please keep in touch, I miss our conversations." You nodded. 

"I do too." 

You kissed each other's cheeks and released hands as she turned to Gabriel holding her hand out again for him to take. He held it with both hands. 

"Think on what I said about the orchids mon cher." He nodded. "Keep loving each other, it does your spirits good." 

"I agree." he said. He released her hand and took yours as you made your way out. 

“Au Revoir," called Nanette, blowing kisses. 

“Au Revoir," you called, doing the same. 

You and Gabriel decided to stroll a bit and you ended up in a nearby park on a bench in front of a large fountain, his arm around your shoulders.

“Y/N can I ask you something?” 

“Yeah.”

“What do you think about all of this? The wedding and the events and everything?”

“I...I’m not sure what you're asking?”

“I guess I’m asking if you want all of this? I know some women start dreaming about their wedding day and what it will be like as young girls. I just wonder what your thoughts on the whole thing are?” 

“Hmm, I guess my thoughts have changed over the years. When I was starting to plan for my wedding with Eddie, I wanted a fairytale wedding...on a shoestring budget," you laughed. He smiled. "As I've gotten older, I guess I've come to the conclusion that all that is nice, the glitz and glamour and everything, especially if you can afford it, but it's not really necessary. I'd be happy with something ridiculously simple, even if it's just going to town hall to sign a piece of paper. As long as I have the man I love and people who care about and support us there, I'd be ecstatic."

"Hmm."

"What about you? Have you thought about your dream wedding?" you asked.

"I've thought about what I'd wear." You laughed. "It's customary to wear your uniform but for the longest time, I've had ideas for this custom suit. I know exactly who I'd get to make it too."

"Tell me about it."

"So you can rip off my idea? Hell no." He pointed to his head "It stays up here until the time comes."

"Oh my God Gabe, no one wants to rip off your idea, least of all me. You need to start trusting me more."

He looked at you, slightly surprised you said that. You looked at him and he grabbed your chin and pressed a kiss to your mouth, before pulling back, looking at you fondly as he ran the back of his hand down the side of your face. 

"You're right. I do," he said. He sat back on the bench pulling you close, "If I see anyone walking around with this suit on, I'll never forgive you." You giggled as he started telling you about the suit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mon cher - my darling (masculine)


	8. Rehearsal Dinner

The rehearsal dinner wasn’t really meant for wedding guests to attend, but Lily begged you and Gabriel to come and once again, like you had been doing this whole trip, you obliged. 

It was held at her parents mansion and when you arrived you were escorted to a small sitting room where everyone who had arrived by that time were enjoying cocktails as you waited for the rest of the guests. 

“Eddie’s parents are coming tonight,” you said to Gabriel, sounding a little anxious. “I haven’t seen them in years.”

“Why do you seem nervous about them being here?” 

“Eddie’s father has a bit of a hands-on problem.” He looked at you, scrunching his face in confusion.

“What does that mean?” 

“You’ll see.”

As if talking about them had conjured them up, Eddie’s parents were escorted into the sitting room. Eddie’s father, Steven, was a tall, large, burly man, who spoke with a loud, deep, booming voice, while his mother, Gloria, was a shorter, smaller woman, who was quiet and came off as painfully shy and unobtrusive. You had seen pictures of her from the past on visits to his parents house when you were together and you got the feeling that she wasn’t always that way, that she used to be vibrant and bubbly, but life with Steven had forced her to change. 

As soon as Steven came into the room, Gloria following with her head cast downward behind him, he immediately spotted you standing by the fireplace with Gabriel.

“Y/N? Is that you girl? Get on over here and say hello to your almost father-in-law.”

You turned to Gabriel, rolling your eyes as you set your glass on the fireplace mantle, then turned to Steven plastering the largest, fakest grin on your face as you moved toward him.

“Steven, good to see you,” you said as you extended your hand for him to shake. Instead, he slapped your hand away and pulled you into a hug. As he embraced you, his hands were immediately all over your back, pressing you way too close to him, as his hands started to roam lower and lower, getting dangerously close to your ass. You began to pull back but he refused to loosen his grip on you. You put your hands on his chest pressing against him until he finally got the message and released you. You plastered a smaller smile back on your face to hide how uncomfortable you were.

“Still as beautiful as the day Eddie first brought you home,” he said, lasciviously looking you up and down in your body hugging powder blue tank dress. You suddenly felt like you were standing there naked in front of this man and you fought the urge to cover yourself.

“That’s kind of you to say,” you replied. 

Suddenly you felt a hand on your back as Gabriel came to stand next to you, putting his arm around you. He had been watching from the fireplace and felt compelled to step in and take some of the attention off you. You wanted to turn into his chest, bury your face in it, and beg him to take you away from there.

“Who is this Y/N? I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” said Gabriel, gaze focused on Steven.

“Gabe these are Eddie’s parents, Steven and Gloria. Steven, Gloria, this is my boyfriend Gabriel.”

Steven looked slightly disappointed to find out you weren’t there alone.

“Nice to meet you,” said Gabriel.

“Nice to meet you too,” said Steven, looking at you with slightly less lust in his eyes. “You know I figured you wouldn’t stay on the market too long Y/N. Someone was always bound to come snatch a pretty thing like you up.” He looked at Gabriel “You're a lucky man.”

“Thank you,” replied Gabriel.

“Well, we better go circulate.” 

“Mmm hmm,” you replied.

Steven began to walk away, Gloria following behind him. Gabriel took note of how his eyes raked you over as he passed.

“Oh my God, I need a shower,” you said when they were out of earshot.

“Has he always been like that?”

“Yeah. You have no idea how uncomfortable it is knowing your future father-in-law wants to fuck you.”

“I’m surprised he does all of that in front of his wife, which, by the way, she seems a little off. She could barely meet my eyes.”

“I have my suspicions that that’s the way Steven likes it.”

“Hmm.”

You and Gabriel took your posts back up by the fireplace. Soon the rest of the bridal party was escorted in one by one and once everyone was accounted for, a member of the mansion's staff, let you all know that dinner was served. Everyone began to filter out the room. Steven and Gloria were sitting on a couch by the door and Steven’s eyes were tracking you as you slowly followed the crowd out of the room. 

You were closest to the couch, with Gabriel on your other side and he noticed Steven do an exaggerated yawn, stretching his arms out, his hand hanging off the arm of the couch as you began to pass it. Gabriel grabbed your shoulders and moved you over, switching places with you. Steven must not have been paying attention, because Gabriel suddenly felt a hand on his ass.

“Just brushing some lint off you darling,” said Steven, trying to play it off. But as he turned his head to look at who he thought was you, he immediately realized his mistake and moved to pull his hand away. Gabriel turned and quickly grasped it, giving Steven a warning stare as Steven met his eyes, his complexion becoming ashen like his soul had left his body. 

“Appreciate it,” said Gabriel, letting go of his hand as he turned back around, putting his arm around you as you both made your way out of the room.

You followed everyone to a large dining room where a long table was set in the middle of the room. It was beautifully decorated with a gold runner that ran down the middle. Gold and white floral arrangements were placed every so often with large, medium, and small clear acrylic diamonds scattered in between. White dinner plates were placed atop gold beaded chargers and napkins were on each plate in gold napkin holders. There was a gold rimmed wine goblet placed to the right of each plate along with a smaller goblet for water. Name tags were to the left of the plates and everyone circled the table looking for their assigned seat. 

Pretty soon everyone was seated and the staff brought out trays and platters of steak, grilled chicken, and grilled shrimp, roasted sweet potatoes, green beans and sauteed mushrooms and onions to go atop the steak.

Once everyone had gotten what they wanted to eat and wine and water was poured, things in the dining room quieted down as you all began to dig into your meals. Soon everyone was commenting on how good the meal was and then the table broke out into light conversation as you all ate.

When everyone’s plates were clear of food and you were sitting back in your chairs satiated, the dinner plates were cleared from the table to make room for the dessert that was about to be served. At the same time, Lily and all the bridesmaids excused themselves from the table and left the room. 

"Must be some kind of modern ritual the girls are doing before the wedding," hypothesized Lily's mother. 

Some minutes later you needed to use the restroom and you got up and excused yourself making your way to a small half bathroom off the main hallway. When you opened the door to come out, Lily whooshed past you in tears. Then, just as you were about to step out into the hall, Eddie whooshed by going after her. 

You stepped into the hall and followed Eddie to find out what was going on. As you got further down the hall, you could hear voices coming from a room. When you looked in, you realized it was the library Lily had led you through at the welcome party. 

Eddie was holding on to Lily's arms as he spoke to her low. You couldn't make out what he was saying but you could see Lily was still in tears and pretty upset. Suddenly she jerked out of his grasp, backing up as she turned from him. 

"Just back off Ed," she cried, hands pushing him away, "Leave me alone."

"Lily," Eddie said, reaching for her, trying to grab her, but she was moving too fast, running to the door that led to the studio and leaving out of it. 

You didn't realize that you had started moving forward to go after her. Eddie turned around and saw you and made a b-line for you grabbing your arm as you tried to move past him.

"Mind your damn business Y/N," he snarled at you. 

You yanked your arm up and out of his grasp. 

"Fuck off Eddie," you said, as you started moving forward towards the door again. 

He reached for you, grabbing your arm again, this time yanking you backwards, raising his voice,

"I'm fucking warning you. I-" 

"Y/N."

You and Eddie looked to see Gabriel standing at the door to the library. From where he stood, he couldn't see the hold Eddie had on you and Eddie quickly released you and stepped away from you as Gabriel made his way over to where the both of you were standing. 

"You ok Y/N?" he asked. 

"She's fine," said Eddie. 

"I wasn't talking to you," he retorted, annoyance in his voice. 

Gabriel went to you and placed a hand on your cheek looking in your eyes with concern. 

"I'm ok. Lily's upset, I'm gonna go out and talk to her," you said. 

"Ok," he replied, stroking your cheek with his thumb, before he let you go. You smiled at him a bit then turned and went for the door Lily had gone out of and left. 

Eddie had started sneaking away while Gabriel’s attention was on you and he was almost out the door to head back to the dining room when Gabriel called out to him. 

"Hey."

Eddie stopped in his tracks and turned around. Gabriel started walking toward him. 

"I don't know what was going on in here before, but you better watch how you talk to her." Eddie rolled his eyes as Gabriel came to a stop in front of him, "Terrance told me about how you spoke to her last night, how you grabbed her."

"What about it?" 

"I'm only going to warn you once, you ever touch her, speak to her disrespectfully, or call her out her name again, you're not gonna like what happens to you."

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do? Cause so far you've been nothing but talk."

Gabriel smirked. 

"Keep thinking that. When the time comes, and it will, because you're too stupid to listen, you'll realize I was doing you a favor with all this so called talk, but by then, it'll be too late."

Both men glared at each other for a minute then, Gabriel stepped around Eddie and left the room. 

You knocked on the door to the studio, watching Lily look up at you through the glass door. You turned the knob and pushed the door open. 

"Mind if I come in?" you asked. 

"I don't mind," she sniffled. 

You came in closing the door behind you and went to sit next to her on the couch.

Lily sniffed a bit before she spoke, wiping at stray tears with her hand. 

"My stupid bridesmaids decided to pull me aside so they could all tell me how much they despise Ed," she sniffed some more before she continued "I know they're just looking out for me and….and maybe some of their points were valid but….I'm getting married tomorrow why are they putting all of this on me now?"

"They're your friends Lily and they want to support you even if they don't totally agree with the choice you're making."

"But it's my choice, why can't they just be happy for me?" 

You sighed. 

"I think they want to be happy for you. They're just worried about you."

"What do they have to be worried about. Ed's going to be a great….a great husb…" she cut herself off and you realized she couldn't say it. 

You both sat there silently for a while, Lily's intermittent sniffles the only sound in the room. 

"Lily?" 

She looked at you. 

"Why am I here?" She dropped her head, caught, "Ed told me it was your idea for me to come."

Lily wiped fresh tears from her eyes. You continued.

“What am I doi-” 

"You got away from him," she said quietly, cutting you off. You looked at her and she took a deep breath. "I just thought…,” she paused for a moment, “Maybe your being here would help me find the strength to leave him too."

Her sniffles quickened and her face crumpled as she started to sob. 

"Oh Lily," you said, as you grabbed her and pulled her to you, putting your arms around her as she cried. 

You sat with her for a long time rubbing her back as she sobbed, eventually she started to calm and she sat up wiping her eyes. 

"What am I gonna do? The wedding is tomorrow."

"You can call it off. You can go in there right now and tell him you don't want to go through with this. I'll go with you if you want."

"But my parents spent all this money, all these people flew in from out of town. They took off time and spent money to be here. I can't just call it off. I can't disappoint them."

You grabbed her hands and looked at her. 

"Lily this is your life we're talking about here. Your parents, all the guests, they don't matter in the end. You're the one who's going to have to live with this not them. This wedding is one day out of the rest of your life. Don't throw your happiness away for the sake of making everyone else happy on this one day. 

"No. No…I have to go through with this."

Lily got up and moved towards the door. 

"Lily, if you don't want to do this, then don't, everyone will understand."

She shook her head as she reached for the door knob. 

"I'm sorry Y/N, I can't…." you stood up from the couch, "I can't let everyone down."

"Lily," you said, pleading with her. 

She turned and left. 

"Lily," you called again, but she kept walking away. You took a deep sigh and sat back down on the couch. 

When you got back inside, everyone was standing in the foyer saying their goodbyes getting ready to leave. You found Gabriel and went to him.

"What's happening?"

"Apparently, Lily isn't feeling well. We all decided to call it a night, let everyone rest up for the wedding tomorrow."

"Hmm."

He held up a plastic container.

"I got your dessert to go."

You smiled.

"Thank you baby."

You were quiet on the way back to the hotel, deep in thought, and you remained that way as you made your way up the elevator and into your room. Gabriel started to get undressed, but you sat on the bed, still thinking to yourself.

"Penny for your thoughts," said Gabriel.

You looked at him and sighed.

"Lily pretty much told me she doesn't want to go through with this wedding, but she feels obligated to because she doesn't want to let the guests and her parents down." He sat down next to you on the bed. "I tried to explain to her that none that matters, that she should do what's gonna make her happy in the long run, but I don't think she heard me. I just feel so helpless, like I should have done or said more."

He scooped you up and placed you on his lap. He held your chin stroking it with his thumb.

"You did everything you could do Y/N. You can't make her not marry Eddie, it's her decision at the end of the day. Who knows, maybe between now and tomorrow something you said will click and she'll have a change of heart. Either way, you can't beat yourself up about this. You tried. Short of holding a gun to her head, that's the most you can do."

You nodded and put your arms around him laying against him. He held you rubbing your back.

"I just feel bad."

"I know baby, I know."


	9. Wedding Day

The next morning you rolled over onto your back and checked your phone. Gabriel rolled over to you and wrapped his arms around you. 

“Wedding still on?” he asked.

“Looks like it. No messages telling me otherwise.” 

You sighed deeply as you set the phone back on the nightstand. Gabriel kissed your cheek.

“It’s her decision Y/N.” 

“I know...Let's start getting ready to go.”

You dressed in a light pink, sleeveless, lace pencil dress with a square neckline, while Gabriel dressed in a charcoal colored suit with a white shirt and light grey tie. He added a light pink pocket square that matched your dress. You made your way to the wedding which was being held indoors at a country club close to Lily’s parents mansion. 

As you and Gabriel made your way to your seats you looked around in awe, the decor was stunning. The events hall the ceremony was being held in had been transformed into a beautiful room of white and lilac. A white runner ran up the center of the aisle with white and lavender rose petals lining each side of it. White and lilac billowy fabric was hung from the ceilings integrating the dark wooden ceiling beams into the decor instead of clashing with it. Floral arches were placed every so often up the aisle ending in a final arch behind the altar that was covered in white roses and wrapped in warm glowing string lights. You could tell a lot of expense went into creating a wedding scape that made the rented room feel like it was built around the wedding instead of the other way around. 

You and Gabriel sat in aisle seats, with you sitting on the outside closest to the aisle and Gabriel watched you as you looked around taking in every detail.

“This is amazing,” you said. 

He smiled a bit thinking about the conversation you both had the day before. Even though you said you’d be happy with something simple, he couldn’t help looking around thinking you should have all of this. All the glitz, all the glamour, all the opulence. He knew it was expensive and frivolous and maybe all of this didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but he wanted you to have your fairytale, wanted you to be a princess for a day. You deserved it and he’d do what he had to to give this to you one way or another, but first, he had to get off the fence about marrying you, about marriage in general really. 

Soon the seats were filled with guests dressed in their finery engaging in light conversation as they waited for the ceremony to kick off. You saw the officiant walk down the aisle and take his place at the altar, turning to face the crowd. Everyone started to quiet down a bit in anticipation of the beginning of the wedding procession. 

Suddenly music started playing and the procession started, Eddie's parents coming out first followed by Lily's mother who was escorted by a groomsman, then Eddie who took his post at the altar. Next were the bridesmaids and groomsmen. You noticed as they took their places that Terrance wasn't among them. Then the intro to The Wedding March began to play and everyone stood and turned towards the doors to see Lily standing there with her father. 

Lily's dress was a white satin a-line dress with a sweetheart neckline. The bodice was then overlaid in vintage lace applique flowers that came up to form a scalloped boatneck and went down her arms making up the sleeves of the dress. She wore a veil that had the same lace applique flowers along the edge and created a long train behind her and came over her face. She looked stunning as she and her father made their procession down the aisle. 

Her father was beaming, wiping at his eyes every so often, but as they got closer to where you were sitting you could see through Lily's veil that she was crying and it seemed to get harder the closer she got to the altar. You made eye contact with her briefly giving her a small smile, trying to be supportive. 

Lily and her father came to a stop in front of the altar and Lily took her place facing Eddie. All the guests took their seats. By this time Lily was audibly sobbing. From what you could hear from the whispers of the guests around you, many of them thought she was just overcome with emotion. 

Eddie lifted Lily’s veil and she was handed tissues as she looked at him, tears still falling in rivulets down her face.

“I.." she sniffed. "I can’t do this!” she cried. Suddenly, she ripped her veil from her head, dropped her bouquet and turned, bolting back down the aisle. There was a second of hesitation but her parents jumped up to go after her and all the bridesmaids followed suit, a flurry of lilac fabric zooming down the aisle and out the room. 

All the guests stood again as Lily had turned to run, many with shocked expressions on their faces. You and Gabriel also stood and you noticed in your peripheral vision that Gabriel was removing his suit jacket and tie, unbuttoning the cuffs of his shirt, rolling them up. You found it odd but there was too much going on at the moment to think much of it. 

The events hall erupted into chatter, many of the guests audibly digesting what had just happened, some in disbelief at what they had just witnessed, turning to their neighbors to ask if Lily was coming back. 

Eddie stood at the altar, also trying to come to terms with what had just happened, seeming to get angrier and angrier the more he thought on it. He slowly turned his head and spotted you in your aisle seat. His eyes fixed on you and then he started to move, fast.

“You did this! You turned her against me!” He was quickly closing the distance between you two and you stood there frozen in place, your eyes shifting to the left and right as everyone turned their attention to the scene he was creating. “I never fucking wanted you here, but you aren’t happy unless your ruining my fucking life. You evil cunt! You stupid, meddling, BITCH!” he stopped right in front of you pointing, spit flying from his mouth as he said his last words.

Everything that transpired next, happened in flashes of seconds. One second Eddie was standing there, the next Gabriel’s fist was connecting with his face, then Eddie was spinning as he fell like a rag doll to the ground. 

“I told you didn't I!” Gabriel roared over the shocked gasps of the wedding guests, moving past you into the aisle as he stood over Eddie, who was groaning on the ground, barely conscious.

“I told you, you had one more time to call her that! I fucking warned you!” Gabriel shouted.

“Gabe, Gabe!” you called to him trying to get his attention as four groomsmen came running down the aisle like they were about to rush Gabriel.

He quickly turned around and they froze a short distance in front of him. Everyone went silent as the men stared each other down, the only sound the groomsmen's exaggerated breathing. 

Gabriel took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders back.

“I think I was fair. I warned him what would happen. He didn’t listen, so I did what I had to do.” His cadence was eerily calm. 

He leaned his head to the left and right cracking his neck on both sides.

“And if any of you has a problem with that," he got into a fighting stance, fists up knees slightly bent, "then bring it on.”

The four men looked at him, breathing hard looking as if they were contemplating their next move. Suddenly one of the groomsmen on the far left charged at Gabriel. Gabriel let him get within range, then punched him hard with a right hook. The man immediately went down and didn’t attempt to get back up. As he went down another man ran straight at Gabriel and Gabriel threw a jab to the middle of his face sending him flying backwards into the other two groomsmen. They caught him as blood started gushing from his nose.

The two men still standing, holding their friend, looked at Gabriel, horrified by how quickly he had dispatched the other two men.

“Anyone else?! I can do this all day!” shouted Gabriel. In all of this, he had barely broken a sweat.

The two men backed away, dragging their friend with them. The other man on the ground was trying to get up but was having a hard time with it.

Gabriel stood there for a minute, scanning the room, making sure he had no more challengers. He took a deep breath, standing up right, relaxing his shoulders then went to you grabbing your hand and his suit jacket. You looked at him, stunned and speechless as he began to lead you from your seat and down the aisle to leave. 

Eddie's parents were on the ground tending to him and Steven looked up glaring daggers at Gabriel as you started to pass. 

"Where do you get off treating my boy this way?" said Steven angrily. 

"You should teach your boy some manners," Gabriel said cooly as he passed, not stopping or even looking in Steven's direction. You continued to follow him as if on auto-pilot as he led you out of the country club to the parking lot.

The ride back to the hotel was initially silent, but out of nowhere you spoke.

“Gabe,” you said, facing forward, not looking at him.

Gabriel sighed

“Look, I know violence isn’t the answer but I-”

“Pull over,” you said, cutting him off.

“What?” 

“Pull over,” you repeated.

Gabriel pulled the car over and put it in park. He took a deep breath bracing himself for the telling off you were about to give him.

“Y/N, I know you're mad at me, but can we at least do this back at the hotel.”

You unbuckled your seatbelt lifting up in your seat, hiking your dress up as you swung your leg over Gabriel and got on top of him, straddling him as you quickly pressed your lips to his. He scrunched his face, going wide eyed in confusion.

You pulled back and started reaching for his pants undoing them quickly as you talked.

“That was the hottest thing I’ve seen you do.” 

He was still confused. 

“Wait...what?” 

You pressed your lips to his again, as you freed his length from his pants. You pulled back again and positioned yourself, pulling your panties to the side.

“Oh my God….I’m so fucking turned on right now…..take me Gabriel.”

His brain still hadn’t caught up to what was going on. He looked down at what you were doing then back up at your face. 

“What?”

“Take me!” you said more forcefully as you sunk down on his length, releasing a soft moan. 

You lifted up slowly and came back down and that seemed to help Gabriel catch up because he was wrapping his arms around you pulling you down further onto his rod as he began to thrust up, making you throw your head back and moan. He started thrusting slowly into you and you moved up and down in tandem with him meeting each of his thrusts, but you needed more. 

“Faster,” you breathed. He looked at you, confusion back on his face. 

“Faster?” 

“Faster!” you shouted. 

He gripped your hips as he began to swiftly thrust up into you, bouncing you rapidly on top of him as you released a long drawn out moan that staccatoed to the rhythm he set.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck…” you moaned over and over again leaning forward to press your lips to his, your hand gripping the seat behind each of his shoulders, “Don’t stop Gabriel, don’t stop.” you said against his mouth. 

The next thing you knew his hand was in your hair pulling your head back, which made you lean back from him and arch your back. You looked at him as you continued to bounce on his lap. He grabbed your breast with his other hand over your dress but all he could feel was lace. He needed his hand on your skin, your nipple between his fingers. He gripped the dress by the neck line and tugged hard causing it to rip.

You gasped, eyes going wide.

“Buy you a new one,” he breathed as he pulled your dress down below your bra which he pushed up out the way, gripping your exposed breast as he sighed in relief from the skin on skin contact. You reached forward grabbing his shirt tugging it open, buttons flying everywhere as he looked down at his shirt then at you in surprise and you gave a mischievous grin. 

He lunged forward releasing a noise akin to a deep growl, letting go of your hair as he wrapped his arms around your back, keeping you arched, your chest pushed up to him as he pulled you to him and took your nipple into his mouth nipping at it with his teeth, flicking at it with his tongue sending sensation straight to your core as you wildly ran your fingers through his hair. 

He lifted his head and began to kiss, lick and bite hungrily at your neck as you released loud guttural moans.

He pulled back and you grabbed his face, pressing your lips to his in a deep kiss and he gripped your ass cheek as you fought to get your tongues into each others mouths, Through all of this, you bounced, Gabriel’s rod quickly moving in and out of you, hitting deep within you, sending waves of pleasure through you that quickly built up inside until you felt like you were going to spill over. Gabriel could feel how close you were as you pulsed around him.

“Cum for me,” he breathed as he started pressing quick kisses to your mouth, “Cum for me baby.” His kisses moved from your lips to all over your face and soon you were shouting loud moans as you trembled, tingles running over you as your pulsing insides coaxed Gabriel over the edge shortly after you. He grabbed both sides of your face pressing your foreheads together and you grabbed his in turn. 

“You fucking beautiful girl,” he groaned as he came undone, panting and moaning in your face as he pumped you full of his hot seed. 

You held onto each other's faces as you both started to come down from your respective highs, breathing deeply as you looked each other in the eyes. You smiled at each other then started to laugh. 

He pecked your mouth a few times, then let your face go, sitting back in the seat. You leaned forward laying against his chest and he started rubbing your back as you both sat silent for a while listening to each other breathe. 

“I thought you were upset with me,” he said. 

“Why? You were defending me.”

“Last time I roughed someone up, you left.” you laughed.

“There’s a difference between defending me and choking a guy out of jealousy.”

“I just figured you didn’t like violence in general.” 

“What would make you think that? I learned how to fight for a reason. I mean, I think violence should be a last resort in most situations but sometimes it has its place.” he chuckled.

“It has its place?”

You sat up and looked at him.

“Yeah, sometimes you just have to slug a guy, or in your case, shoot them.” he laughed, grabbing your face to quickly peck your lips. 

“Sometimes, you amaze me Y/N.” You smiled. He touched the ripped fabric of your dress. “We look like we've been fighting each other.” 

“Sorry about your shirt.”

“Yeah,” he said, looking down, grabbing it a little, “I liked this one too….it was worth it though.”

You giggled. Then began to maneuver yourself so you were sitting sideways then you laid back against Gabriel. He wrapped his arms around you and kissed your forehead. 

"I guess Lily had a change of heart after all," said Gabriel. 

"Yeah. Good for her. I'm happy for her."

"Me too." 

You both went silent for a moment. Then you looked at him

"How did you know?" you asked. 

He looked back at you, puzzled.

"I saw you taking your jacket off, getting ready for a fight when Lily ran out of there." 

"I didn't really, but I knew Eddie was going to be looking for someone to blame, so I figured I'd get ready for him just in case."

"I could've handled him on my own, you know?" 

He huffed a laugh. 

"Oh I know, but I hit harder than you and I think he deserved to suffer."

You laughed as you leaned in and pecked his mouth. A car whooshed by and Gabriel started looking around as if he suddenly remembered where he was at. 

“Come on. Let’s get out of here before we get arrested.” 

He sat up and lifted you up, helping you get back in the passenger's seat. He put the car in drive, then held out his hand to you palm up, you put your hand in his and he held it as he drove back to the hotel.


	10. Happiness

When you got back to the hotel and made your way to your room, you both saw Terrance coming out of his. He took both of you in. You in your ripped dress Gabriel in his open shirt that was missing all its buttons. 

"What the hell? I heard a few punches were thrown at the wedding but I didn't think it had turned into an all out brawl."

You and Gabriel looked at each other and smiled. You turned back to Terrance. 

"This didn't happen at the wedding," you said. 

Terrance looked confused. 

"What?... No nevermind, I don't even want to know."

"So what happened to you?" asked Gabriel, "Noticed you weren't in attendance."

Terrance sighed. 

"Yeah. Eddie was pissed about me telling you what he did at the bachelor party. We got into last night and I pretty much bowed out."

"I didn't mean to throw you under the bus," said Gabriel. Terrance waved his hand dismissively. 

"I was thinking about distancing myself from him a bit anyways. I guess what you said stuck with me."

Gabriel gave a small smile and turned to open the door. 

"Hey, I'm checking out tonight. If you guys don't have plans, I was thinking maybe we could get together for dinner, commemorate the wedding that never was."

"Sounds good to me," you said. "Gabe?" 

He looked at you. 

"I'm game if you are."

"Great, I'll see you guys tonight."

"See you then," you both said in unison as Terrance made his way down the hall and you made your way into the room. 

As you went in you stretched your hands into the air, then stepped out of your heels, picking them up and tossing them next to your luggage. Gabriel took his shirt off and started to remove the rest of his clothes and you went to stand in front of him. 

"Unzip me," you said, and he obliged. "Bubble bath?" you asked as you stepped away from him pushing your dress off your arms. 

"Sure." he said. 

Before making your way to the bathroom you got your phone and shot off a text to Lily, checking to see if she was ok. You waited a bit hoping for a reply but the message remained unread and you set the phone down, figuring she wasn't up to talking just yet. 

Several minutes later you and Gabriel were in the tub together surrounded by mounds of bubbles soaking and relaxing as you leaned against him, thinking while he played with your fingers. 

"Did we…stop a wedding?" you asked. 

"I don't know what all this 'we' stuff is? That was all you, Y/N."

"What do you mean all me? You're the one who got to the best man."

"I just gave him my opinion on the situation. You're the one who got to the bride. I'm pretty sure she's more integral to the wedding than the best man. Face it Y/N, you're a tornado, blowing into town, wreaking havoc everywhere you go."

You gasped feeling slightly insulted. 

"No I'm not." He chuckled. 

"Yeah, you are. You blew into Overwatch, turned my life upside down, blew Charity and her plans off kilter. Then you blow into Montreal and put the kibosh on Lily's wedding plans. You're a chronic disrupter Y/N…..” he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around you, “and everyone’s always left better for it." You smiled as he kissed your cheek. “My little trouble maker.”

“Not on purpose.”

“Well I need you to stay out of trouble on purpose for a while. Things are about to change soon. Worrying about you needs to be dead last on my list.”

“Things like what?”

“Can’t talk about it right now, but I’ll let you know when I can.” 

"Oooh Mr. Mysterious,” you scoffed. 

“It won’t be a secret for long, besides I always tell you as much as I can.”

“You tell me as much as you want to. I just never say anything because I figure you have your reasons.”

He sighed.

“Does it bother you?”

“Not the Overwatch stuff. I get you can’t tell me everything you're doing as far as that’s concerned. It’s the stuff you don’t tell me about you that bothers me. You don’t talk about your military career, I had to learn about most of it at your mother’s house. You didn’t tell me about Charity until you had no choice and even then your willingness to be forthcoming was piecemeal. I just wonder what else you're not telling me and why you feel like you can’t."

You both sat silent for a moment. 

"Like you said, I have my reasons."

"and what are those reasons?" He took a deep breath, letting you go sitting back against the tub. He reached out and ran his finger up your spine, slowly tracing it. 

"Y/N, I'm not ready to go into all that right now," he said apologetically. 

"I'm not trying to push you but….," you leaned back against him and he wrapped his arm around your shoulders, "our two year anniversary is coming up. I just hoped after all this time and everything we've been through…It would be a little easier for you to open up to me, to say all the things you don't."

He sighed propping his other arm up on the lip of the tub, running his hand through his hair. 

"I want to Y/N, believe me, I just can't right now. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it, ok?" 

In your mind, it wasn't ok, but for the sake of keeping the peace you nodded your head. 

Later that evening you met up with Terrance for dinner at a nearby restaurant, where you recapped everything that had happened at the wedding for him, much to his amusement. Gabriel noticed that you kept checking your phone through the meal, and when you were waiting for the waitress to bring Gabriel and Terrance thier credit cards back, he asked you about it. 

"I'm just checking on Lily, or trying to," you said, "I want to make sure she's ok. She's read my texts but hasn't responded. I guess she just needs time to process, but I wanted to talk to her before we leave tomorrow."

"Hmm."

The waitress brought the men their cards and everyone got up and went outside to say their goodbyes. 

"It was good seeing you again Terrance. I think I got to know a different side of you. It was nice," you said. 

"It was good seeing you too Y/N and again, I'm sorry for just being a bystander back then."

"All is forgiven," you said with a smile as you embraced each other. 

Terrance then turned to Gabriel extending his hand.

"Commander, good to meet you sir," Terrance said laughingly. Gabriel smiled as he took his hand. 

"Just Gabriel is fine. It was good meeting you too." 

"You two love birds take care," Terrance said as he began to make his way to his car. 

"You too," you both said before making your way to yours. 

When you got back to the hotel, you and Gabriel started packing up. Your flight out of Montreal was in the early afternoon the next day and it felt a little bittersweet to again be leaving the only other place that ever felt like a home to you after your attack. 

You crawled into bed with Gabriel and you got close facing each other. You put your hand on his cheek and brought your lips to his in a sweet kiss. 

"You're so good to me, Gabriel. In ways, I realized after all of this, I sometimes take for granted. It feels weird to say this, but, thank you."

He grabbed your hand and kissed your knuckles. 

"Y/N, I know I need improvement in a couple areas but, I try my best to treat you the way you deserve to be treated. You don't have to thank me for that. It's what I'm supposed to do." You smiled, "And when I fall short, I want you to check me, like you've been doing. You've never put up with my bullshit," you giggled a little, "Don't ever start. Don't ever go easy on me. You make me better. I want to be better for you."

Your cheeks heated and you looked away from him. He chuckled, lifting your head with his finger under your chin. 

"I still got it, I see. I can still make you blush."

"What you said was really sweet."

"I meant every word."

"I love you," you whispered. 

"I love you too."

He pulled you to him and pressed his lips to yours in a kiss that started out sweet, but you both soon deepened. You spent the rest of the night holding and kissing each other until you both drifted off to sleep. 

The next day you and Gabriel made your way to the airport. You still hadn't heard from Lily. You called and texted to let her know when your flight was leaving, asking her to meet you there to say goodbye, but she never got back to you. 

You had been looking around for her and checking your phone before your flight was called for boarding. You continued looking around as you lined up to get on the plane and you hesitated just before walking through the gate. 

"I don't think she's coming baby," said Gabriel. 

You sighed. 

"I don't think she is either."

It kind of stung a little. You had gone to everything she asked you to go to whether you were supposed to be there or not, regardless of how uncomfortable you felt being there with Eddie and she couldn't even show up to say goodbye. 

But you also understood that maybe she just wanted to be alone right now. You couldn't fault her for that. Plus, it wasn't like you were best friends or anything. You were there for her when she needed you to be. She didn't owe you anything for that. 

Gabriel held his hand out to you. You sighed again and took it, grabbing the handle to your rolling bag as you walked through the gate to the entrance of the plane. He let go of your hand and put his arm around you, kissing your temple before you both boarded the plane. 

**Two months later:**

"Ta Da!" you exclaimed as you took the lid off the dutch oven. 

Jack and Gabriel stood on either side of you at the island looking into the pot at what you had made. 

"That looks delicious Y/N. What is it again?" asked Jack. 

"It's braised lamb shanks for the hundredth time. I swear you two just tune me out when I talk."

"I'm sorry Y/N, were you just saying something?" said Gabriel. Jack chuckled as you elbowed Gabriel in the stomach. 

"I'll get the plates," said Jack as Gabriel turned to the stove to bring over the polenta you had made to go with the meal. 

You all sat down, loaded up your plates and ate in a peaceful silence until Gabriel went for seconds. 

"Why are you taking so much polenta?" questioned Jack. 

"Why are you over here in my plate worried about what I'm doing?" Gabriel replied. 

"Guys, I can make more polenta, there's literally a whole bag in the cabinet," you said trying to calm things down but Jack continued as if you hadn't said anything. 

"I'm sick of you thinking your portion should be bigger just because you're sleeping with the cook," said Jack, irritation in his voice. You snapped your gaze to Jack. 

"Did you just call me 'the cook'? Like I'm domestic staff?" you said, they still ignored you. 

"In this case, it should be. I won the stupid pot she cooked everything in," said Gabriel, getting irritated as well. 

"Well actually that was a joint effort." you said, apparently to no one. 

"Who gives a fuck about a damn pot? You're so God damn greedy and entitled," shouted Jack. 

"I'm greedy!?" shouted Gabriel. 

As the men continued to shout at each other, you shook your head and silently picked up your plate, making your way to the bedroom, closing the door behind you. You went to your side of the bed and propped yourself up against the pillows placing your plate in your lap. You continued to eat, the muffled shouts of Jack and Gabriel audible through the door. 

Suddenly, your phone chimed signaling you had an email. You picked up your phone and opened your email app. It was from someone with the address 'lil-e492@email.com'. You opened it and started to read. 

_Hey Y/N,_

_Long time no speak to. I'm totally aware that that's my fault and I want to start by apologizing for going ghost on you. After leaving Ed at the altar, I guess I just felt embarrassed and ashamed that I had let things get so far. You were so supportive of me even after finding out that I sort of lured you to my wedding under false pretenses. I'm sorry for that too._

_I do want to thank you though. You really did give me the strength to leave, you and Gabriel. I guess seeing you two together made me realize that it was possible to be with someone who could love me for me. I hope to have something like what you and Gabriel have one day. He's a good man and I'm looking forward to finding one of my own at some point in the future._

_For now, I'm just focusing on my art. Focusing on what makes me happy. Nanette has been a huge help. I'm so thankful to you for introducing us. You were right about her stories , she's a riot. Lol._

_She's helping me put together my first solo exhibition. It's coming up in a few days. After everything that happened, I felt inspired to paint a new piece and she thought it would be great to use for the invite cards. Don't freak out, but you're in it. Seeing you dance at the bachelorette party, the joy on your face. I felt compelled to capture it._

_It's probably too late to ask you to come to the exhibition. Instead I just ask for your well wishes from afar. Thank you so much Y/N. The time you spent with me, talking with me, encouraging me, meant everything. I wish I had done a better job of showing you that._

_I'll drop you a line from time to time. Let you know how I'm doing. I'd love it if you'd do the same._

_Until next time,_

_Lily_

Attached to the email was a pdf of the invite card. You tapped it to open it. Lily's piece was two side by side portraits. One was a self portrait of her sitting at an easel painting the other was of you dancing, glee on your face. Under the portraits was a caption with a title for the piece. It simply read, Happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so much fun with this fic. Thank ya'll so much for reading and commenting!
> 
> Coming up next: I said I would talk about Blackwatch so the next one is about Blackwatch.


End file.
